


Hybrid Ninja

by MrGreen5



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Dragon Ball, Naruto
Genre: All pairings are relevant until shippuden, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Non-Canonical Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), many things are changed from the original plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 84,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrGreen5/pseuds/MrGreen5
Summary: After an intense battle against Cell, Gohan is absorbed by a black hole and taken to the Shinobi World. Now, he finds himself in a more tragic and conflictive world than his own, where many challenges and losses awaits for him.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 35





	1. New Beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, neither do I own Naruto. All the credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB/DBZ/DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto/Naruto:Shippuden/Boruto).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan's fight against Cell creates a rupture in reality and is transported to a different dimension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So this is my first fanfiction story, and I decided to post it here, so I hope you like it. Feel free to give me feedback or support through the comments, it really helps a lot! Anyway, enjoy the story!

" **HAAAAAA!** " Both Cell and Gohan yelled as two great blue energy waves clashed, causing an amazing light show.

The Z-Warriors were amazed at the sight of the amazing clash of Kamehamehas, it was probably the biggest and strongest they'd ever seen. The humans were totally shocked at just how far the saiyans had gone, they were simply too far ahead from them. When Goku was defeated by Cell, the Z Fighters had lost all hope of defeating the bio-android, and when Goku said that their only hope was Gohan, it got even worse. The young saiyan had been horrified as he was forced to fight against they strongest enemy they had to stop up until now, being way stronger than Freezer had previously been. This horror only increased when Goku, in a unexpected and quite weird movement, gave Cell a senzu bean. Fortunately for all of them, Goku's son had been able to stand up to the android's power.

"That kid is amazing." Piccolo said as he pridefully smiled. He remembered when Gohan was just a little child, when he was still weak and innocent.

"Yeah. Unbelievably amazing." Krillin added as he remembered the moment he met Gohan as a baby.

It had been quite a long battle and a lot of it had gone wrong. Unfortunately, they had lost Goku and Vegeta during the battle, although they died in honorable ways. Goku died saving the Earth from total destruction, while Vegeta died saving Trunks from Cell's attack. Now, Gohan was having one last battle against Cell, a fight that would decide the fate of both the Earth and the Universe. Piccolo ran through many worse scenarios where things went a bit worse than the current scenario, but quickly lost concentration as Cell threw out 2 Cell Jrs. The namekian warrior got ready to respond in the case that his pupil wasn't able to resist against the android.

"HAHAHA! Surrender, Gohan! I've already won!" Cell was laughing maniacally as his Cell Jrs. went on to attack the half-saiyan.

"Never!" Gohan yelled back as he increased his Kamehameha's power as much as he could. He was already feeling tired and had a bit of serious injuries, but he was still able to overwhelm Cell.

"We can't let those Cell Jrs. distract Gohan!" Trunks said as he beckoned the Z-Warriors to follow him, flying towards the Cell Jrs. as he turned into Super Saiyan. Piccolo and Tien Shin Han followed him without doubting, while the rest decided to stay where they were, in safety.

"We're here Gohan!" Tien yelled as he flew up high and started charging his Tri-Beam. He initially pointed it towards one Cell Jr. but changed his decision at the las moment to point to the normal Cell. "Here I go! **Tri-Beam!** "

"No, NOT AGAIN!" Cell screamed as he looked up to see the three-eyed warrior throw his attack, pounding him to the floor and making his Kamehameha weaken.

Unfortunately, as Piccolo and Trunks continued to fight the Cell Jrs., Tien's energy dried out quickly and was unable to continue using his Tri-Beam. The three-eyed warrior wasn't able to flew much time after the attack due to the enormous amount of energy required by his technique, which caused him to fly next Piccolo and Trunks for a safer position. 

"Thanks Tien!" Gohan said as he used the last bits of his power to make one last push against the monster.

"No, no, NO!" Cell started to yell as Gohan's energy wave started to consume his, but then, he had an idea. "Come here, my son!"

Piccolo tried to stop the Cell Jr. but was told by Trunks to focus on the other one while he took care of the one that moved towards the main Cell. The Namekian called Krillin and Yamcha as he needed as much help as possible against the Jr. As Trunks finally reached the Cell Jr., it threw an energy ball towards him, making him stop for a minute to avoid the energy attack. The Cell Jr. used the time to get to the original Cell and was absorbed by it, automatically gaining it's strength and increasing his Kamehameha's power. The time traveler instantly went to help Gohan, charging a Gallick Gun and joining the push against Cell. Gohan smiled confidently as his friend had come to help him, but then that smile vanished. The android's eyes widened as the clash started to become unstable and a dark void appeared between the two energy waves.

"We should end this fast!" Trunks said as he increased his Gallick Gun's power, which made Gohan totally scared and nervous. Goku's son had already studied black holes and worm holes, mainly because of his mom making him study a higher level than he should, and he knew that there was a little possibility that this was one of them.

"NO!" Gohan yelled as Trunks' attack increased power made the void grow, starting to absorb everything around it. Gohan gathered some Ki and used it to create an air blast that threw Gohan away from the void, resulting in himself being absorbed by it while Cell's matter was totally disintegrated due to the void's pressure.

Piccolo tried to go in as he saw the void, but he was interrupted by the Cell Jr., who made the three of them quickly kill him with a combination of Yamcha's Spirit Ball, Krillin's Destructo Disk and the namekian's Special Beam Cannon. But to Piccolo's bad luck, the void had already disappeared as they killed the little monster. It had apparently absorbed Gohan and Cell, as Trunks laid unconscious in the floor.

* * *

Two kids ran through the streets of Konoha as they were pursued by several villagers, who were clearly mad at the kids. You could notice that the anger was more directed towards the blonde kid, although it didn't take much of it off the brown-haired, younger kid. The blonde kid also looked older than the brown-haired one, even despite being almost the same height. After some more minutes of persecution, the kids finally noticed that the villagers had stopped following them, which made them confused. Although they were a bit relieved that the persecution was already over as they were really tired. They had arrived at an alley, where they decided to rest a bit before going to their respective houses, although the blonde kid wasn't as eager to do this as his friend was, maybe because he didn't really have anyone to receive him. 

"Wow, that was really close." The brown-haired kid said as he sat down to rest for a bit.

"Yeah." The blonde kid added as he laid on the wall.

"Naruto." An old man with a white robe asked as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The kids were totally scared and even screamed.

"Umm, hello old man." Naruto answered as he smiled nervously.

"I'm disappointed in both of you, Naruto and Konohamaru." The old man added as he shook his head, showing his disapproval of their actions. "Go back to you houses, and Naruto, we have to talk later."

"Yes, sir!" Both of them said, running away from the situation after finishing the phrase. The old man laughed softly as he saw the kids leave the place.

"Sigh, back to boring Hokage work. I wonder if I should have someone move out with Naruto... Well, doesn't matter anyway, he has been living alone all this years, hasn't he?" The old man said as he turned around to go back to his office. He gave the sky one last glance before starting to walk. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a weird black hole open in the sky, letting one object out of it before disappearing. The old man saw the object fall and quickly went to the Hokage Tower to make the announcement. "Finally, something interesting happens!"

* * *

A silver-haired man wandered through Konoha, he didn't seem to be searching for anything, though. Next to him was a black-haired man who wore a green suit. The silver-haired man had a mysterious aura, maybe because his face was hidden by a mask, or maybe it was because he only showed one of his eyes, it was hard to tell for anyone who didn't really knew him. 

"Guy, look at that." The silver-haired man said as he calmly pointed up to the sky, where one object was apparently falling from the skies.

"Wow, what is that?" The man with the green suit asked with a curious and excited tone.

"I don't know." The silver-haired man answered with a uninterested tone.

"Let's go and find out, Kakashi!" Guy enthusiastically yelled as he beckoned his friend to follow him. Just at that moment, the thing finally hit the floor in the outskirts of the village, making Guy run towards the directions the objects had crashed.

* * *

As Kakashi and Guy arrived at the place, the Hokage, the same old man that had just talked to Naruto and Konohamaru, and some ANBU were already in the place, this last ones were checking the area, as well as the thing that had fallen from the sky.

"Oh, hello Kakashi, Guy, please come and take a look." The old man kindly said as he beckoned the men to get closer.

"Sir, it is just a boy. He's wearing humble and torn clothes, he also seems to be really injued, what should we do?" An ANBU said as he went out of the crater the objects had left.

"Take him to the Hospital, we can interrogate him later." The Third calmly ordered as he took a smoke from his pipe.

"Alright sir!" The ANBU replied, heading back to the crater afterwards.

As the ANBU took the boy out, they noticed how muscular he was, making the Hokage really interested in him. Although, their surprise was even greater as they saw his scars. It was shocking to see a young boy with those scars and him still being alive, it was even more unbelievable to think that, even with those injuries, he had survived falling from the sky.

"Kakashi, Guy, you can go now, I have to arrange things for a meeting with him." The Hokage said as he started to walk out of the place. "I'll inform you if I need something from you, but for now, you're free."

"Finally, I'm a bit hungry." The silver-haired man said as his mouth moved through the mask he wore, showing that he actually moved his lips to speak.

"He looks really strong." Guy said, making Kakashi shake his head as he knew what was to come. "But I can't let him be stronger than me!"

As Guy started to yell, Kakashi headed back to the village, searching for a restaurant. After some minutes, the taijutsu expert noticed his friend's absence and quickly went into the village.

* * *

When Gohan woke up, he was in what appeared to be a hospital room, although it had older technology than the rooms he had previously been in. He thought that maybe they had taken him to a hospital that was in other city. He decided to try and sense his friends' energy, but to his confusion, he wasn't able to feel any known energy. He deduced that maybe he wasn't able to feel anyone else as he'd just woken up, but his thoughts were interrupted by some unknown guests. An old man entered the room alongside a silver-haired, younger man who had some red tattoos in both his cheeks and in his chin. The last man to enter the room was a dark blonde-haired man, who kept himself behind the two men that had entered before him. The old man was the first to speak up.

"Hello, young man." The elder leader greeted as he smiled kindly, making Gohan gain some confidence. "We'd like to ask some questions to you as we are quite intrigued by your situation."

"Alright, I guess." Gohan replied as he sat in his bed to get ready for the questions.

" _I guess Inoichi won't be necessary then._ " The silver-haired man thought as he beckoned the man behind to stay there.

"First of all, tell us what your name is and where you come from." The old man said kindly.

"I'm Son Gohan and I come from Mount Paozu." Gohan casually answered as the silver-haired man got a confused expression.

"Interesting... I have never heard about such place." The Hokage said as he got into his thoughts for a brief moment, getting ready to make the next question.

"I don't expect you to, it is a really unknown place." Gohan explained as he remembered the looks of the mountains from his house.

"You fell down from the skies, so I don't think that is place from this world." The Hokage said in a serious tone as Gohan started to get worried.

"It can't be..." Gohan said to himself as he started to remember his battle against Cell and the outcome it had, although he calmed down a bit as he was unable to sense Cell's energy, leading him to think that maybe the bio-android had died during the battle.

"Anyway, we have one more question." The old man said as he got a bit more serious, but he still kept his calm aura. "Why did you fell down from the sky?"

"Hmmm... it's quite a long story." Gohan said as he started to swim through his memories. "Let's just say that a portal opened while I was fighting a really dangerous enemy."

"Interesting..." the old man said as he took a smoke from his pipe. "Alright, thanks for answering our questions, I shall call you to my office when you get better. Let's go, Yuichi."

"Yes, sir." The silver-haired man replied as he bowed to the elder. "Inoichi, let's go."

The dark blonde-haired man stood up and then walked out of the room following Yuichi.

"So I'm in another world." Gohan said to himself as he turned his head to look at the window of his room, admiring the village. "That's just impossible..." The young saiyan continued as he took his hands to his face. "My friends... Mom..." Tears started to drop through his fingers as he thought about the possibility of never seeing his friends and family ever again.

After some minutes of crying, Gohan made a plan. He would investigate to see if there is a possibility of going back to his world, although he thought that maybe his friends would get him back with the power of the Dragon Balls.

* * *

"Noticed something, Yuichi?" The Third asked as he and his assistant walked through the hallways of the Hospital.

"What, sir?" The man politely asked back as he wasn't able to understand what the Hokage was trying to say.

"He said that he was fighting a dangerous enemy before a portal appeared and transported him here." The old man answered as he continued to walk. "That tells us 2 things: first, he comes from another world and second, he is really strong."

"Are you thinking about recruiting him as a shinobi, sir?" Yuichi asked as he kept walking next to the old man.

"Yes, but I need to test his strength. I'll ask Guy to try him when he is fully recovered." The Third said, getting a nod from his assistant. 

"But why Guy? He's just a kid." Yuichi asked, as he raised one of his eyebrows.

"Did you see his muscles?" The old man answered as he kept walking. "I think we are witnessing a prodigy that can maybe surpass the likes of Minato, Shisui and Itachi."

"And don't you think he'll try to go back to his world?" The Senju assistant asked with a quite skeptical expression and tone. 

"Oh don't worry." Hiruzen answered as he happily smiled. "I won't let that happen." Yuichi looked at the Hokage as he kept walking towards the exit of the building. "And I don't believe that such a thing possible either... First of all, we don't even know how he managed to end up here. Second of all, according to what the Fourth reported before going to stop the Kyubi, that type of jutsu only worked in their own bodies, he didn't mention anything about weird portals."

Yuichi remembered Minato, his second example in life after the death of his grandfather, Tobirama. "Well, maybe we have many things to discover yet."

"Indeed we have, young one." The Third smoked once more from his pipe before exiting the hospital, being greeted by every villager that was outside the building. He smiled as he greeted them back, which caused his assistant to feel annoyed, maybe it was because of his treatment towards the fox kid, or maybe it was because of his bad decisions like keeping Danzo in the government, but he wasn't able to understand why his grandfather would choose him as Hokage.

* * *

"What do you mean that he cannot bring Gohan back?!" Yamcha yelled at Dende as the little namekian got scared by this, getting Piccolo to intervene, calming Yamcha down with a hit in his head. 

"I-I'd have to ask him... but if Porunga can't, then no one really can." The little magician namekian explained in a shy and nervous tone. 

The Z-Fighters had gone to Namek after the unfortunate outcome of the battle, which had taken Gohan from them, although they were sure that the kid was still alive. With the help of the namekians, who accepted to help them after recognizing Piccolo and Krillin, who had helped against Freezer all those years ago; they gathered the namekian Dragon Balls and, thanks to Dende, summoned the dragon. They had wished to bring Gohan to them, but unfortunately, the dragon was directly unable to locate the boy.

"Don't worry, Dende." Piccolo said with a calm tone. "Ask him if he knows where he is." Dende proceeded to ask the dragon in their native language. The little namekian lowered his head to hide his concerned expression as the dragon answered to him. He turned to Piccolo, shaking his head in response. This had now broken something inside the namekian warrior, he had never thought of losing his pupil. "Ask him if he's dead."

Dende asked once again in the native namekian language, as he once again got a negative question from the dragon. "He says that he is also unable to find Gohan in the next world." 

Everyone became silent due to the shock that this statement caused them, no one could believe that Gohan just ceased to exist, that the kid just vanished from existence. Krillin just imagined that he would be the one to tell the bad news to Chi-Chi, which just worsened his already damaged spirit. Piccolo lowered his head in defeat, he was maybe experiencing the worst defeat of his entire life, for once, the son of the so called Demon King had lost someone he loved, the one he looked to as a son.


	2. The Academy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan meets the Hokage and is given some basic information about the Shinobi World.

Almost all of his clothes had been lost due to their damage, so he was given new ones, which were similar to the ones everyone wore in that world. Gohan's clothes consisted of pants similar to the ones he had before combined with a net shirt underneath a purple loose shirt with short sleeves. The shoes he was wearing before during the battle against Cell, the ones that Piccolo had given him, had been given back to him along with a pair of blue sandals. For now, Gohan chose his old shoes, although the blue sandals made him curious and wanted to try them. 

After getting himself ready, he left for the place the old man had told him, although he still needed some directions from the villagers, who just thought he was a normal foreigner. Finally, the hybrid saiyan finally reached the great building where the Hokage was waiting for him.

"Hey." Gohan said as he was greeted by several people as he made their way to the old man's office.

Gohan noticed how some people gave him menacing looks, as if he was some kind of freak, but he decided to ignore it. As he finally reached the door that led to the office, a young, silver-haired man received him, opening the door and letting him enter. Inside the office, an old man was smoking from his pipe. He was wearing the same white robes he had been wearing when Gohan first saw him, although this time he had a peculiar red and white hat. Behind him, pictures of four men were in the wall, one of them being himself. The young saiyan noticed the similarities between the second one of the picture and the Hokage's current assistant.

"Welcome, Gohan." The old man said, inviting the black-haired saiyan to take a sit.

"Thank you, sir." Gohan replied, bowing to the Hokage before taking a seat in front of his desk.

"It's good to have you here." The old man said as he finally finished his phrase. "Anyway, let's go straight to the point."

The saiyan turned to look down at his hands and then back up to the old man, getting mentally ready for any possible attack he could receive.

"You're a warrior, aren't you?" The Third asked, taking a smoke from his pipe as he finished his question. "We've noticed your physical condition and, according to what you told us about fighting an enemy, we guess that you're a warrior of some kind."

"Yes, I am." Gohan answered, his tone remaining calm and naive. "But why do you ask?"

"I'd like to test your strength, would you mind?" The Hokage explained as he paid attention to the saiyan's expressions, noticing that he may probably have to give some explanations. "Konoha is a military village, and seeing that you are a warrior, we would be interested in acquiring your fighting abilities."

"I guess that's okay, but what do I gain in exchange?" The onyx-haired saiyan said as he expected to at least get something in exchange for his effort.

"You'll be given a place to live in, you'll be given a considerably good salary and, of course, you'll be recognised as a normal citizen of the village and have access to anything a normal citizen has access to." The old man answered, getting a little, confident smile on his face after Gohan nodded.

"You said you wanted to test me, right?" Gohan asked with a curious expression on his face, although he was a bit unconvinced of fighting again in a while. "Will I have to fight anyone?

Hiruzen expected this question, although the answer had changed as he imagined it wouldn't really be necessary to test when he was going to take the Academy test anyway. "Don't worry about that anymore, there has been a change of plans. You won't be tested anymore."

The saiyan raised his eyebrow in confusion, but then figured that it would be better. Yuichi noticed that maybe he would have some doubts and went on to explain things to the kid. "You'll soon be told about what will proceed in your life, don't worry." The Senju coldly said as he turned his glance at the saiyan.

"Since you are already here, I'll proceed to explain how the shinobi work and it's different ranks." The Hokage announced as he grabbed one headband that had been taken to his office and showed it to Gohan. "This headband is given to the shinobi that graduate from the Academy. Shinobi are basically members of the army of the village, although they normally hold very good life conditions." Hiruzen said with a kind tone, clearly trying to persuade the young saiyan to join the village as one. "Now, let me give you a quick explanation of the ranks we have for shinobi." The saiyan nodded in response, so the old man proceeded. "We have 3 ranks: Genin, the lowest. Chuunin, the second one. Jounin, the highest rank except for Kage. The Kages are the leaders of the hidden villages, I am the Hokage and therefore I have the highest rank."

 _So he is the leader of the village..._ Gohan thought _._

"Actually, this these men's pictures behind me are my predecessors, me and my succesor, who unfortunately died little after he was named Hokage." Hiruzen explained as Gohan started to get interested in them. 

After some time of looking at the pictures, Gohan turned his glance back at the old man and got back in the conversation. "So, will I get any of those ranks?"

"Unfortunately, no." The Hokage answered, disappointing the boy. "You'll have to graduate from the academy, but at least you'll be able to make friends, so don't worry."

"But I will still get paid, right?" Gohan asked, to which the old man answered by nodding.

"Yes, you'll be given enough for you to live correctly, you'll also be given a house." The Hokage said, smiling kindly afterwards. " _I hope this is enough to earn his trust."_

 _I'll have to make some research to find a way to go back home._ Gohan thought. "By the way, sir, is there any library I can go to?" 

"We'll be giving you a map once we give you your house, so don't worry." The Hokage said, getting a triumphant and kind smile in his face. " _It looks like he trust us."_

"Thanks, sir." Gohan said as he bowed to the old man.

"You're welcome. Now you'll be taken to your house, please follow Yuichi." The Hokage said as he beckoned his assistant to go.

* * *

A couple of weeks had past since he had appeared in the sky above the village, but he hardly had done anything, mainly because the majority of the time he had been recovering from his injuries.

That day Gohan had to go to the academy to at least learn and get to know who'll probably be his new teammates. He had already taken a bath and had put his clothes on, the same clothes he wore the day before when he had met with the Hokage.

"Time to go to school I guess." Goku's son said as he opened the door to leave for the academy.

He decided to stay for a little more and eat something else before leaving. He was a bit nervous, he had never gone to school before, and it made him terrified to think that he wouldn't be able to make friends.

"Now, it's time." Gohan said as he quickly left the house after closing the door. His speed would be totally shocking and unbelievable to anyone that wasn't from his own world.

* * *

Even though he had the ability to fly, he was really unsure if he would be able to use it. He thought that maybe it would scare people off. He still preferred to fly, though, but he ended up walking to the academy. Once he arrived, he was able to see a lot of kids of his age. The kids played, talked and ate. Something catched his attention, though. A blonde kid was sitting alone in the grass in front of where all the kids were. The kid looked sad and Gohan just couldn't ignore him.

"Hey." Gohan said as he greeted the kid. "What's your name?"

"Hey." The kid said as he raised his head to look at the boy that was talking to him. "I'm Naruto, what about you?"

"I'm Gohan!" The half saiyan enthusiastically said as he noticed the kid started to cheer up a bit.

As they were called in to the building to start classes, Gohan told Naruto to go with him, to which the blonde agreed. As they reached their class, Gohan was told by the professor to wait outside, yet telling Naruto to. This man had a scar in his face, like a cut, that went from cheek to cheek. He finally entered the class as he was called in.

"Hello, I'm Son Gohan and I'm new in the village." The half saiyan said with a happy and enthusiastic tone. "I hope we can get along."

"Alright, Gohan, take a seat." The professor said as the half saiyan nodded. "I'm Iruka, and I'm here for whatever you need, okay?"

Gohan nodded again as he tried to find a place to sit. He tried to find a seat next to Naruto, but it was already taken. He finally saw one next to a blonde girl, who beckoned him to seat next to her.

"Thanks." Gohan softly told the girl, as he sat down next to her.

"No problem." The girl said. She stretched her hand to Gohan. "I'm Ino."

"Nice to meet you." Gohan said as he shook her hand.

The class went by pretty quickly, or that's at least what Gohan thought. He had always been interested in learning, he loved to learn. He was really interested in this jutsu things, he thought of how useful they could be in his own world. In the end, he was happy even though he hasn't learned anything about energy capable of creating black holes or any real distortion in the universe. The break had finally come and Gohan was hungry. He had taken some lunch to the academy as Trunks prepared it for him. Everyone was shocked when they reached him out to talk and saw the crazy amount of lunch Gohan had.

"Have you been carrying that all the way here?!" A boy with a sweater on said.

"Eating that much can be really troublesome." Another boy with his hair in a tail said.

Suddenly, another kid spoke up. He had black hair and blue clothes, and apparently, some girls were really into him. "If you eat that much then your physical condition has to be really bad." The boy said.

"Man, have you even taken a look at him?" Naruto asked as he got mad at the boy. "You always have to be so annoyingly complaining, Sasuke."

Everyone was shocked at Naruto's response to the Uchiha. The kid with a hair in a tail facepalmed as the boys of the classroom just felt bad for Naruto, while the girls of the class just cheered Sasuke up as they expected him to easily beat the blonde kid. 

"Shut up, idiot." Sasuke replied as he turned back to look at Naruto, who was standing up in front of him. "A loser like you can't make fun of a prodigy like me, don't you get it? Are you so literally retarded that you still aren't able to understand?"

"Who are you to say that to Naruto?" Gohan said with a serious tone, as the Uchiha widened his eyes in anger. "Judging by your lack of empathy, you seem to be the stupid one around here." Sasuke's anger increased, and it being the new one confronting him made it easier as he didn't have to hold back, just like he did with Naruto. "You don't even know what he had to feel like all day being alone!"

"You don't know anything about me, new guy." Sasuke said as he pointed right to Gohan's face. "Just shut up, I don't have time to waste in you, I have a more important mission to deal with."

"Whatever your mission is, you just can't treat other person like that." Gohan replied with an annoyed tone, although he didn't seem to have the intention of causing any harm, he just wanted the Uchiha to understand Naruto. "I don't know you, but I don't think that is justified."

Sasuke was left speechless by Gohan's words. He knew he was right, but he refused to let anyone win against him, he needed to be strong to defeat Itachi. He didn't see the necessity of beginning a fight so he decided to continue the argument. "And you shouldn't judge people you don't know. I could have a life just as hard as Naruto's and you wouldn't know."

"I see... I can't deny that, I'm sorry" The saiyan said, getting a nod from the Uchiha back in a way of accepting the apologies. Naruto watched at Gohan, someone he had just met and had just defended him. The Uchiha sat down as he regretted saying what he said to Sasuke, after all, they had lived a life of almost equal pain and loneliness. He one day would apologize. Meanwhile, Gohan was getting ready to start eating his meal, having a change of mood that just seemed out of place for anyone. "Time to eat!"

Everyone in the classroom fell on their backs as Gohan went casually back to his place and started eating really quickly. The other kids, except for Sasuke and Naruto, who were busy submerging in their thoughts, were shocked at how Gohan ate.

"Anyway, when will you graduate?" Gohan asked he calmly kept eating.

"Tomorrow is the final test." A pink haired girl answered, still shocked at how fast he ate that much food. "And I don't know what you'll do because your first day was the day before the final exam."

Gohan's face turned white as his face showed total shock, he even spit out his food due to his surprise.


	3. New Genin teams!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Academy exams are held and the Genin teams assigned.

"I wasn't able to find anything." Gohan said to himself, continuing to eat his cereal afterwards. "It's frustrating... At least this cereal is really good."

Gohan's house was really organised as he'd invested some of the money he had for food on a couple of cabinets to store things he had accumulated. Fortunately for him, his mother had been really worried about his studies and got him into a course of financial education, so he knew how to manage money. He still thought that he was in a difficult situation, but at least he got some money before becoming a shinobi and starting to earn his own money.

“Man, I miss mom.” Gohan said, giving his cereal a sad glance before continuing to eat it.

Gohan continued to eat his cereal. He really enjoyed eating cereal, it was a very good meal even though it was light and really simple. After eating his bowl of cereal, he left home for school.

* * *

Iruka was already calling the list of names for every student to get the final exam. Gohan didn't even know what to do as he had just been there for 1 class, he honestly didn't even know what he was doing there.

"Ino Yamanaka." Iruka called, leaving the half saiyan as the next one to do the exam.

Sasuke saw how Gohan panicked at not knowing what to do, causing him to laugh a bit, mainly because of the faces Gohan was doing during his desperation. The half-saiyan noticed this and it actually helped him focus, hoping it was a strength test. 

"Son Gohan." Iruka called.

As he exited the classroom, he saw 2 more ninjas apart from Iruka, who encouraged him before going back to the classroom. One of them looked as if he was sick, while the other had a bandana that covered his head. Both wore the same uniform that Iruka.

"So, can you do any technique that isn't destructive?" The sick-looking man calmly asked, to which Gohan answered by nodding. “Let’s see it then.”

"Solar Flare!" Gohan yelled as he took his hands in front of his face, making a blinding light appear between them, vanishing after a couple of seconds.

The 2 ninja started to rub their eyes. They finally were able to open them again and actually see something, showing their shock as they finally saw the boy. The sick-looking man started to take some notes.

"Not bad." The man with the bandana said. "Anyway, you pass, get your headband." He continued as he gave Gohan a headband with a metal plate with a symbol in it. "You're officially a Genin."

* * *

As he left the academy, Gohan met Naruto on his way home. The half saiyan greeted the blonde boy kindly, and so did Naruto.

"So, were you able to pass the exam?" Gohan curiously asked.

"Check it for yourself." Naruto enthusiastically answered, taking his headband and putting it on his forehead. "How do I look?" Somehow, it looked as if it had been made specifically for him.

"Suits you really well." Gohan answered as he got his own on his forehead. Then, he changed his mind and put it in his right arm. "What about mine? Does it look good?"

"Different, but I guess it's cool." Naruto said as he gave Gohan a thumbs up.

"Tomorrow they're assigning the teams, right?" Gohan asked as they continued walking.

"Yeah." Naruto answered. "I hope I'm not in the same team as Sasuke, he makes me sick."

Gohan laughed a bit at Naruto's comment, making Naruto laugh too and then both of them laughed together. Weirdly enough, Gohan imagined the blonde kid and the Uchiha as the counterparts of his father and Vegeta, so he supposed that in the future both could end up being great friends. At that moment, the young saiyan remembered Goku and Vegeta dying, feeling to him as a weird memory to have at that moment. He didn't know to take it as a signal from destiny or as a reminder of his failure, but in the end he opted for the second option, determined not to repeat the same mistakes from before. 

* * *

"Today, your lives as shinobi from Konoha start. Lives guided by the Will of Fire, the philosophy that gets our nation moving." The Hokage said as he stood in a sort of stage. In front of him, the newly graduated Genin were hearing his speech. "Your professor, Iruka, will be assigning you your respective teams. Your teammates will be your working partners and friends for you entire lives, so make sure you treat them well." The Hokage beckoned Iruka to go next to him. As Iruka stepped forward, the students started to cheer him, specially Naruto.

"Alright, then, let's go ahead and announce the teams." Iruka said, getting a list out of his clipboard. He started to read it afterwards.

"Let's see." Gohan said as his teacher continued to read the list of teams that both him and the Hokage had made.

"Team 7 will be formed by Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha; and it will be in charge of Kakashi Hatake." Iruka announced, making Sakura cheer and brag about it in Ino's face, making the blonde girl roll her eyes.

Naruto wasn't sure how to feel about his team as he was happy that he was in the same team as Sakura, but at the same time he was unhappy about Sasuke being in his team. He finally decided to accept it, although he wished Gohan was in Sasuke's place. On the other hand, Sasuke was totally disapppointed about his team as he thought both Naruto and Sakura were just going to be an obstacle for him and his objective.

"Team 8 will be formed by Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka; Kurenai Yuhi will be on charge of this group." Iruka announced. The pearl-like eyed girl was a bit disappointed as she wanted to be with Naruto, but she accepted the team in the end. Kiba was excited to get to know new people, while Shino was totally uninterested.

" _Hehe, I'll be with Hinata. Maybe I'll finally be able to talk to her._ " Kiba excitedly thought.

"Next will be Team 10 and it will be formed by Chouji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara, and Asuma Sarutobi will be in charge of the team." Iruka announced.

"I knew it." Shikamaru said with an uninterested, almost disgusted tone. Chouji was actually happy with his team, although Ino was a bit jealous of Sakura. The three of them either raised an eyebrow in confusion or just got a confused expression in their faces as the Hokage told something to Iruka in the ear.

"Excuse me, there's a little change in team 10." Iruka announced as he scratched the back of his head. "Son Gohan is also part of the team, making it a team of 4 Genin."

Shikamaru got a slightly surprised expression as he didn't expect his team to have one more member. On the other hand, Chouji wasn't sure how to react, although he supposed it was something good. Ino was a bit happy as she had already met Gohan and he was quite a nice guy, at least that was what she thought. She couldn't deny that he was a bit handsome, too.

"At least I'm with Ino, she's nice, I guess." Gohan said more to himself, but was heard by Naruto.

"You're lucky, I'm with Sasuke!" Naruto complained. “I wish I was with Shikamaru and Chouji, they’re nice guys.”

Gohan was about to reply to his friend's complain but Iruka raised his voice again to give one more announcement.

"Now, your new teachers or leaders will present themselves to you." Iruka said. "So please be nice to them!"

Then, several Jounin appeared next to their respective teams. Apparently every team except for team 7, as Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey." Asuma said as he waved at the young members of his team. He had a friendly smile on his face, along with a cigarette that accompanied that same smile. "How's everything?"

"Fine." Shikamaru coldly and uninterestedly answered.

"Umm, I think we're missing the new guy." Chouji said as looked all around them, not finding Gohan.

"Does anyone of you know him?" Asuma curiously asked after watching if he was somewhere to be seen.

"I do." Ino said as the Nara raised one of his eyebrows. He believed the girl to be lying, as they had just known about the existence of the guy for like 2 days. 

"Is he nice? I mean, I’m just curious, it’s not like I fear him for being an outsider." Asuma continued to ask as Chouji's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, he is." Ino a answered as she smiled nervously. "Hey, Gohan."

"Hey." The half saiyan replied, making Asuma cringe and fall back.

"Uhh, hello, Gohan." Asuma nervously said as he got up, smiling while a drop of sweat went down his face.

"How are you all?" The half saiyan kindly asked as he joined the group. His friendly smile made everyone feel as if they’d known him for a long time already.

Everyone answered his question, giving Asuma time to think of something to do to get to know each other, then he thought about Kakashi's idea and decided to copy it. All of them had previously met to talk about what they expected from their teams and the silver-haired jounin mentioned an idea of his to get to know more of the kids.

"Anyway, I'd like this team to be really close, so I want us to know each other better." Asuma said, making Gohan smile as he liked the idea. "Each of you will tell us your likes and dislikes, and then your goal in the future."

"That sounds fine." Ino said as she turned to look at the others.

"Yeah, it's okay for me." Chouji replied as Shikamaru and Gohan nodded.

"Alright, then, I'll start." Asuma said. "I love cigarettes and peace, I hate losing loved ones and I already achieved my goal. Your turn, Chouji."

"Um, I love food, I hate being hungry and my dream is to break some food eating record!" Chouji asked as he thought about what food he'd eat next.

"You’re making me hungry!" Asuma said, laughing a bit afterwards. "Anyways, your turn, Shikamaru."

"Whatever." Shikamaru said as he took a moment to think of his answers. "I like sleeping, I hate doing any mental or physical effort and I don't really have a goal."

"We'll have to work on that, then." Asuma said as he laughed a bit. "Your turn, Ino."

"Uhh, I like shopping, I hate work and I guess I can't tell if I have a goal, but I'm ready for everything!" Ino confidently and enthusiastically said.

"I like your confidence and energy! You will surely be a good shinobi in the future." Asuma said as he turned to look at Gohan, giving him a friendly smile. "Now your turn, Gohan."

"Alright." The half saiyan said as he scratched his chin for a moment before answering. "I love animals and learning new things, I hate evil people and my goal is to protect the world and the living beings that live here." Gohan remembered 16 as he thought of his objective in life, and probably would always do. 

Asuma and Chouji were surprised at the complexity of Gohan's answer. Shikamaru and Ino were surprised too, but the Nara hid his surprise and the Yamanaka preferred to give an interested expression.

"That's really admirable, Gohan." Asuma admitted as he remembered his nephew, Konohamaru.

Suddenly, someone gave Asuma a hit on the back of his head. A silver-haired man with his face covered by a mask walked by them. He was being followed by Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. All of them laughed at Asuma. “You should think of your own ideas, Asuma.”

* * *

"How did it go for you?" Gohan asked as he walked next to a blonde boy.

"It wasn't that bad, but I found out that Sasuke is even creepier than he seems." Naruto answered, cringing as he remembered what Sasuke had said during their presentation. "Even Sakura got a bit astonished when he said his dream was to kill someone."

"I would've reacted the same." Gohan reassuringly said, smiling nervously as he scratched the back of his head. 

As the boys kept walking, a group of 3 kids suddenly got in their way.

"Naruto, why haven't you played with me recently?!" One of the kids asked. He had brown, spiky hair and he had a really nice blue scarf.

"I've been busy." Naruto replied. "By the way, this is Gohan, he's new in the village."

"Hey." Gohan kindly greeted. "What's your name?"

"I'm Konohamaru, the next Hokage!" The kid answered with great enthusiasm.

"I see why you're friends, then!" Gohan said as he noticed how both Naruto and him wanted to become the same thing, but he also noticed that they probably had different reasons.

"Unfortunately for Naruto, I'll be the one who becomes Hokage!" Konohamaru declared.

"I'm even older than you, what makes you think you can beat me?" The blonde boy replied as he got ready to fight Konohamaru.

"You're just 3 years older than me!" The kid yelled.

"I'm still older!" Naruto yelled back.

"Hey! Calm down." Gohan said as he got between the 2 of them. "How about we all go to eat together at Ichiraku?"

"Yeah!" The other 2 kids said, making Konohamaru and Naruto accept the suggestion too.

"So what are your names?" Gohan kindly asked.

"Moegi!" The little girl enthusiastically answered.

"And Udon!" The other kid said with a lot less enthusiasm as he appeared to be sick.

"Alright then! Let's go!" Gohan said.

The group of 5 kids now walked towards Ichiraku, where some delicious cups of ramen waited for them.


	4. High-ranked mission!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 10 get jealous of Team 7 and go on a B-ranked mission to Sunagakure along with Hayate Gekko.

"I thought being a shinobi would be more entertaining." Shikamaru said, continuing to eat after talking.

Asuma had taken them to eat to the same restaurant he always took them to after their third mission as a team. He wanted to celebrate every single mission, as he always noticed how much their friendship and skills improved with every single mission. There something that always surprised him, though: Gohan never struggled much with strength-related tasks. He also noticed how Gohan showed great experience in fighting when he sparred with his teammates.

"Don't expect to have higher ranked missions if you're still Genin." Asuma replied.

"Team 7 did get a high-ranked mission." Gohan reminded, making the Jounin cringe.

"Well, that's true." Chouji admitted as he took a bite out of his meal.

"I think we should go and ask the Hokage, just as Naruto did." Ino suggested, taking a sip of water before continuing to eat.

"I don't think-" The Jounin was interrupted by Gohan, who spoke up.

"That's a good idea." The half-saiyan reaffirmed.

"I'm dead." Asuma said to himself as he looked down at the floor in defeat. "Let's go, but you ask him, not me."

"Alright!" Ino yelled as she started celebrating. Then, she beckoned everyone to follow her towards the Hokage Tower. Everyone left their meals there, but Chouji took it with him, completely ignoring fact

* * *

" _Again?_ " The Hokage thought as the Genin of Asuma's team complained of the little difficulty of their missions. "Please understand that you're Genin, I cannot give you missions with a higher rank than C."

"What about a B ranked mission? I don't think that's too much for us." Ino suggested as her teammates supported her. Asuma was about to faint from his nervousness and anxiety.

"I would have to check-" The Hokage was interrupted by a Jounin that entered the room at that moment. He wore a headband that covered most of his head, letting 3 locks of hair go down to his face; his face made him look as if he was sick.

"Hey, old man, I'm back." The Jounin said.

"Hayate! You arrived just in time!" The Hokage excitedly replied.

"Uhh, why's that?" The lizard-lover confusedly asked as he scratched his head.

"This kids were just asking if they could get a higher ranked mission, and I figured that you could help them." The old man explained, smiling afterwards.

"Asuma?" Hayate confusedly asked as he noticed his old friend's presence and also of some young kids.

"Oh, by the way, have you made the report of your missions?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes, sir, I have it here." Hayate said, handing over some papers to the old man.

"Alright, then." The old man replied as he took a look at the papers. "You can help this kids now, you're free."

"Sigh, Whatever." The sick-looking man said as he turned to look at the group of kids, and then at Asuma. "Do I have a limit of rankings I can take them to?"

"Yes, B, now go." The Hokage quickly answered as he started to check on the reports he'd just been given.

"Alright, alright." Hayate said. "Let's go, I'll get you a mission."

* * *

"I'm not actually 'free', so you'll have to help me with something." Hayate said as he walked through the halls of the Hokage Tower. Behind him, 4 genin and Asuma were following him.

Some of the shinobi Hayate walked past gave him weird glances or raised their eyebrow. It was quite a rare thing to see him with some kids, you would regularly see him hanging out with friend or with Yugao, maybe even alone, but it sure was weird to see him with kids.

"So what is your mission about?" Asuma asked. He was obviously concerned about his students, so he wanted to see if they were prepared enough for the mission they were going to do.

"A diplomatic meeting to increase our relations with the Sand." Hayate explained as he took one of his lizards out, whispering something to it. The lizard was a bit bigger than a normal one and his skin was blue, making it even rarer; it wore a green vest similar to the one of the jounin uniform, but way smaller. As soon as it left, Hayate continued walking.

" _Lizards?_ " Gohan curiously analysed the how the lizard ran away and how it seemed to also have certain ninja skills as it had a kunai pocket behind his vest.

"To the Hidden Sand?" Ino asked, raising one of her eyebrows. "I thought every hidden village were enemies."

"Not exactly." Hayate stopped walking and turned to the kids. "You see. The Hidden Leaf has always had a better relationship with the Sand than the rest of hidden villages, but it has been getting worse recently."

"Yes, the Kazekage hasn't accepted any meetings with the Third, recently." Asuma added as he scratched his chin. "But why now?"

"I don't know, I don't trust them." Hayate explained. "That's why I will use your help."

As Hayate gave them a really big smile, Asuma was scared by it. The Genin just felt awkward because the man's smile was quite weird.

"But won't it be too dangerous for them?" Asuma asked after calming down a bit.

"Come on! We're 2 Jounin, we surely can help them escape." Hayate eagerly answered as he continued walking.

Asume cringed at his friend's odd energy, maybe he was just nervous or something. Meanwhile, the 4 genin became more eager to leave every second the conversation continued.

"I'm getting bored going so slow." Hayate said with a dull tone, suddenly starting to run really quickly after finishing his phrase. "How about we hurry up?"

* * *

"Did he find anything new?" Yuichi asked. He was sitting in front of the Hokage's desk, drinking a cup of tea.

"Yes, apparently he's close to finding Orochimaru." Hiruzen said as he took his hat off.

"Do you think he'll be able to find him without being killed?" Yuichi asked again, taking a sip of tea after finishing his phrase.

"He's Hayate, I trust him." The Third said as he gave a strong look to Yuichi.

"He's a jounin and he can use the sage mode." Yuichi said, stopping to get one more sip of tea before continuing. "But we're talking about Orochimaru."

"Yes, but I'm sure he can manage to escape." The old Hokage replied. He wanted to trust in Hayate's great speed and agility, but he was perfectly conscious that Orochimaru would easily kill him.

* * *

"I think that all the villagers are watching us." Ino uncomfortably said as she turned to look to every villager that walked past her.

Hayate was the only one of them that was calm, even Asuma was nervous about the situation. The Sarutobi was ready to attack anyone suspicious that got close to them with his blade.

"Is that the Kazekage tower?" Gohan asked as he pointed at a tall building that was also made out of sandstone, just like the rest of the buildings.

As Hayate nodded in response, a group of at least 8 Jounin surrounded them. Asuma took his blade out without even thinking twice, making the genin react in the same way.

"This is a diplomatic mission, remember?" Hayate gave them a disappointed glance. He raised his hands before turning to the one who seemed to be the leader. "We're from Konoha! The Third Hokage told us that the Kazekage would be open to negotiations with our village."

"Well, we haven't been informed by the Kazekage." The leader said. He stood out from the rest of the Jounin as he wore a turban-like head gear and a sheet that went down to cover the left side of his face. He also had two red marks in the visible side of his face.

"Why don't you ask him, then? I've been told by the Hokage that we were supposed to be negotiating today!" Hayate started to get nervous, a couple drops of sweat going down his face.

Asuma sighed as he started to get ready for the inevitable fight. Gohan noticed the tension that was surrounding them and decided to feel the energy of the Jounin of the Sand, noticing that Hayate seemed to be stronger than the majority of them.

"Alright, we'll ask him." The leader said. "Please stay here while we go."

The man left 3 men with the shinobi from the Leaf, obviously making sure that they would not leave. Hayate knew that there was something going on and took the decision to abandon the mission. He wouldn't risk the lives of 3 kids just to see what happens.

"Asuma." Hayate softly called his partner.

"Hm?" Asuma answered softly.

"Leave and take the kids with you, I'll get you time." Hayate said, turning his head back to Asuma, showing his concerned expression.

"Why? What happened?" The Sarutobi asked as he got ready to leave.

"There's something wrong here and I don't want to risk anyone's life, so go!" The Sarutobi and the kids quickly ran, making the jounin of the Sand try to follow them. Hayate got in front of them as he got his sword out.

The Lizard expert threw his sword to the air and grabbed it by the blade, hitting the other Jounin with the other part of his sword and knocking them out without major struggle. He then ran towards the direction Asuma and the Genin left.

The leader of the Sand Jounin went out of the Kazekage Tower with 7 more Jounin. He became angry when he saw his men knocked out in the floor.

As Hayate ran through the streets of the village, he remembered when he looked up to one of the highest windows of the Kazekage Tower. There was a kid, and he saw that he had some Jounin in his room apparently taking care of him. Hayate grinned as he found out that his mission hadn't been a total failure.

"So he is the jinchuuriki..." The man increased his speed as he reached the gates of the village and quickly went through them. The guards tried to follow him but they just weren't able to get even close to him.

* * *

"That was such a weird and suspiciously short mission for it's rank, wasn't it?" Shikamaru said as he scratched his chin.

"Why?" Naruto asked as he scratched his head.

Both teams had already come back from their respective missions and they surely had gotten some experience out of them. They were now reunited in Gohan as the saiyan wanted to meet them all. Although to everyone's surprise, Naruto and Sasuke appeared to be friends now.

"Well, yeah, but just as that Hayate guy said something went wrong." Gohan explained.

"Hayate? That weirdo that always looks as if he's sick?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe, but he's quite fast and strong." Ino, who was sitting next to Gohan and Shikamaru, said.

"Whatever." Sasuke said. He didn't think of Hayate as someone strong, he was just one ninja more. "He isn't that strong."

"You're going to continue with that?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he expected the same speech. 

"What? Are you still not able to admit that Daichi is the strongest ninja of the village?" Sasuke tried to mock the Nara, but he couldn't care less. 

"The fact that you're the last 2 Uchiha don't make you stronger than the likes of the Hokage." Chouji intervened.

"Wait, the last two?" Gohan asked as he was totally confused.

"Oh, right, you're new..." Shikamaru remembered, coughing a bit after saying that.

Chouji started to eat his chips faster as he was getting anxious of how Sasuke could react.

"My clan was massacred." The Uchiha explained, making everyone shocked as he managed to keep calm. "By my own brother." Gohan's eyes widened in horror as the young Uchiha finished his last phrase. He wished he'd read a bit more of the history books before leaving for the village.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Gohan tried to say before being interrupted by Sasuke. The saiyan had a difficult childhood himself and he knew what remembering that type of things feels like, so he imagined it would hurt even more to make him remember something even worse than his own.

"Don't be sorry, you didn't know." Sasuke replied. Everyone was totally shocked, even Naruto, at how comprehensive the Uchiha had been.

"What happened to you?" Shikamaru asked as he still had his surprised expression.

Sasuke did not answer, but was clearly annoyed by this as his eyebrow started to tick while a vein showed up in his forehead.

"Anyway, How was your mission?" Gohan asked, smiling nervously and trying to save Shikamaru's ass.

* * *

The Genin were really busy recently and so Konohamaru had to enjoy the most time he had alongside his good friends Naruto and Gohan.

"So, how's the academy been?" Gohan asked as he remembered the extremely short time he spent there.

"Good, I guess, I'm one of the best students." Konohamaru answered. He appeared to be happy at first, but then he turned serious. "Although it appears not to be enough for my grandpa."

"One of the best? That's awesome!" Naruto cheered, helping the Sarutobi be happy again. "I foresee that we'll have a really close competition for the Hokage position." Naruto said, trying to imitate the voice of an old man. 

"Nah, I'll definitely beat you." Konohamaru said with a serious tone, but then laughing along with his two friends. "What about you? Has it been fun?"

"Sometimes it is and some others it is either boring or really hard." Gohan answered as Naruto just remained silent while remembering Zabuza and Haku. 

"I see..." Konohamaru said before apparently remembering something. "Oh! Sorry, I have to leave!"

Both Gohan and Naruto confusedly saw as Konohamaru left Ichiraku and his bowl of ramen for whatever he needed to leave.

"Well that was weird." Naruto admitted as Gohan nodded in agreement.

"Totally." The saiyan added as Naruto continued to eat his bowl of ramen.


	5. Han.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Chuunin Exams are about to start, a Jounin team formed by Yuichi Senju, Daichi Uchiha and Aoba Yamshiro head out to a mission to take the jinchuuriki of the five tails to Konoha.

Yuichi stood right next to the Hokage's desk as the old man checked upon some new documents he'd received from some of the Jounin that were now in his office.

"I'm guessing that you already know why you're here, but if you don't know still, then our motive is the Chuunin Exams." The third explained as he got up and walked towards the Jounin. "And first of all, I would like to ask Kurenai, Kakashi and Asuma if they recommend their teams for the exams."

Daichi, who was just behind Guy, widened his eyes in surprise as he discovered that Kakashi now had a team of genin to his command. He now had some more interest in getting one of his own.

"I, Kakashi Hatake, recommend my students, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, for the Chuunin exams." The man known as the copy-nin said.

"I, Kurenai Yuhi, am on charge of team 8, which is formed by Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga and Kiba Inuzuka, and I recommend them all for the exams." The girl with the scarlet eyes firmly said, exchanging looks with Asuma as the man got ready to speak.

"I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend my students, members from team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Son Gohan, for the exams." The Hokage's son said as he confidently smiled after finishing his phrase.

"I would normally ask if you're sure about your decisions, but it seems that you're indeed very confident about it." The old man said. "It makes me intrigued to see what these rookies can offer."

" _How talented can those rookies be for them to be recommended so soon?_ " Guy thought as he couldn't hide the surprise in his face. " _Specially the ones of Kakashi, who never approved of any team before them._ "

"Wait!" A voice in the back said. Iruka walked through the rest of the Jounin and finally stayed in front of the Hokage, next to Kurenai. "Hokage, sir, those Genin were my students and I know their abilities. I'm pretty sure that they still aren't ready for the exams."

Before either the Third or Kakashi were able to answer to Iruka's complaint, someone raised his hand before joining the conversation.

"You said it yourself, Iruka, they **were** your students." A man with black, long hair, replied in a slightly harsh tone. "How long has it been since the last time you saw them in action? I bet it's been a while."

Iruka was unable to answer to the Uchiha's reply and preferred to remain silent, giving Kakashi the opportunity to reply too.

"If you're more comfortable, you can test them by yourself." Kakashi calmly said, clearly ignoring Daichi's response.

Iruka answered by nodding and then went back to where he was.

* * *

"Chuunin what?" Gohan asked, making everyone except for Asuma fell back. The Jounin just cringed from his student's reaction.

"Exams." The Sarutobi answered as he maintained his cringe expression.

"Oh, so that's what you do to get the higher rank, huh?" The saiyan said, making his teammates confused.

"Are you stupid or intelligent? I'm not able to find out at this point." Ino said as she held her hand on her forehead.

"Anyway, I want to know what you think about it." The Jounin said as he gave a look to each one of them. "If you don't want to participate, you can wait for next year's exams."

"I think it will be fun, so I'm in." Gohan said, turning to his teammates before he continued talking. "I can help you train anyway."

"Then I'm in!" Chouji said as he raised his hand.

"Count on me for this." Ino said, smiling confidently as she finished her phrase.

"Whatever, I guess I'm in, too." Shikamaru indifferently said, turning his look apart from his partners. "But just if Gohan gets to train us, either way we're dead."

"Wow! I admire you enthusiasm boys!" Asuma happily said as he scratched the back of his head. "If you need any help with the training, tell me and I'll help with whatever I can!"

"Thanks a lot, Asuma." Gohan replied as he bowed to him, showing his gratefulness.

"So, when are these chuunin exams?" Shikamaru asked. He wanted to measure how much they'd have to train, although he knew that Gohan would get them fit in a really short time.

"In 2 days, so get ready!" Asuma said, giving his students a really big smile. "But don't worry, you'll be able to do it!"

The Nara's jaw fell down in shock of the incredibly short amount of time they'd have to get ready. Ino, while as surprised as Shikamaru, just widened her eyes. On the other hand, Chouji just kept eating his chips as he expected something like that to happen.

"Then let's start right now!" Gohan said, waving at Asuma and running towards one of the training camps. "Follow me and try to keep my pace, this is the beginning of the training!"

"It's a joke, right?" Shikamaru asked to himself as he surprisingly admired the saiyan's speed. "Please tell me it's a joke."

"Stop complaining and let's go!" Ino said as she started to run behind Gohan, making her maximum effort to reach him. She was followed by Shikamaru and Chouji, who really struggled to even reach the blonde kunoichi.

* * *

"Huh, weird." Konohamaru said as he walked next to one of the training camps along with his friends.

"Where can the boss be?" Moegi asked as they continued to walk.

"Isn't that Gohan?" Udon said as he pointed towards the training camp, where Gohan was training along with his teammates.

"Yeah! Maybe he knows where the boss is!" Konohamaru said, running towards the camp as fast as he could. He was followed by Moegi and Udon, although he was clearly the fastest one of the 3.

As they got closer to him, Gohan sensed the familiar energy of the Hokage's grandson. He was a bit surprised by the speed of the young kid, who left his friends behind by a considerable distance.

"Hey! What do you need?" Gohan said, calling the attention of his teammates, who got distracted and stopped their physical training. "Not you, continue sprinting."

"Have you seen Naruto?" The young kid answered, to which the saiyan answered by shaking his head.

"Sorry, but have you tried searching in the other training camps? Or maybe in Ichiraku?" Gohan suggested.

"Oh, you're right, thanks." Konohamaru said, smiling afterwards. "Oh, by the way, when I become a Genin I want to train with you, too!"

"No problem! I see that you have potential, so it would be an honor." Gohan said, laughing softly afterwards.

"Anyway, bye, Gohan!" The kid said as he waved while starting to run backwards.

Moegi and Udon has finally gotten some time to rest as they saw Konohamaru return with the same speed as before. They still followed him even though they were tired.

"Alright, enough!" Gohan yelled, making his teammates fall down to the floor out of exhaustion. "Who won, then?"

"Ino, of course. We were totally crushed by her." Shikamaru said as he struggled to get some air.

"I am exhausted too, so there wasn't that much difference." The blonde girl said as she sat up in the floor.

Chouji remained silent as he started to eat another bag of chips he'd brought to the training camp.

"Anyway, you'll now have to take my headband off." Gohan said as he changed his headband's place from his arm to his forehead. "I used to do something similar with my father and Mr. Piccolo back at home."

"Alright! Let's go!" Ino yelled as she got up. She was clearly exhausted and sore, but she still tried to encourage his friends to complete the training.

"Ugh." Shikamaru said as he got up, motivating Chouji to do the same.

Shikamaru quickly made his shadow imitation technique, failing to catch Gohan in it but getting him just in point for Ino to perform her Mind Body Switch Technique. As she got in the saiyan's mind, she was able to see some memories, which made her confused as she wouldn't get that inside of someone's mind. She saw Frieza killing Dende, then Piccolo sacrificing himself and as she was about to see 16's head being stomped, Gohan managed to get her out.

The girl was really shocked and shook as she got out of his mind. Gohan noticed this and glanced at her as she did the same. Chouji took advantage of this distraction and attacked the saiyan, who dodged the Akimichi's attack stylishly, making him hit the floor.

"Alright, I'm waiting." Gohan said as he got his hands in a clearly defensive position.

"Ugh." Was all Shikamaru could express as he got up from his knees. " _We need a plan._ "

Ino took a kunai, standing up after taking it while leaving it behind her back.

"Wait, do you have a-" As the saiyan tried to ask something, the blonde girl throwed her kunai. Gohan obviously dodged it, but as he looked down at his feet, he saw how Shikamaru had trapped him with his shadow.

"Gotcha!" Chouji said as he calmly grabbed the saiyan's headband.

"Wow, that was really good." Gohan admitted as he released himself from the shadow, proving to Shikamaru that in fact he'd always been able to free himself from his technique. "I have to congratulate you for your effort, you were truly amazing."

"Hmph." Shikamaru said, nodding in thankfulness.

"Heh, thanks, you're cool you know?" Chouji said as he gave all of his teammates one of his chips. "There ya go."

"Thanks, Gohan, Chouji." Ino said, eating the chip after saying this. She glanced at Gohan while they all ate the chip Chouji had given to them, she had really been complimented by the saiyan's comment. _"What has happened to you, Gohan?"_

* * *

"Do you think we'll find him?" Yuichi asked as he and other two Jounin made their way out of a forest.

"I don't know, all I know is that we have to find him." Daichi answered in a serious tone that was just strange for him.

"Aren't we disrespecting the First's legacy by getting the jinchuurikis back to Konoha?" A ninja with glasses and a brown hair as spiky as Kakashi's said.

"I guess, but there's nothing we can do about it." Yuichi said, surprising Daichi, who expected him to give a speech about his family.

Ironically, the next one to be surprised would be the Senju, as he noticed Daichi activating his Sharingan and stopping. As the Uchiha remained standing on a branch of a tree, Yuichi raised his eyebrow but still got his defense up.

"Aoba, is it that man over there?" Daichi asked as he pointed to a man. He was wearing a red conical hat and a red mask that covered half of his face. His face was also hidden by a white fabric that was attached to the hat. He also wore a red and gray uniform, similar to one from a samurai.

"I believe so, he matches the descriptions."Aoba answered. The three of them continued their way towards the man, who noticed them and started to run.

"No! Wait!" Yuichi yelled, trying to call the man's attention.

"Let's surround him." Daichi said, being answered by a nodding from each of his partners.

Aoba acted as a distractor for Obito to try and give him a hit, but was unable to as the man dodged it. Finally, Yuichi got in front of him with his high speed, and as the man noticed it, he was surrounded.

"Back off, I don't want to be forced to use my power." The man said, getting apparently ready for using the one of the tailed-beasts' power.

"Calm down, we don't want to kill you, we just want to talk, alright?" Aoba said with a cautious tone.

"Alright." The man said without getting his guard down.

"So, what's your name?" Yuichi asked as he lowered his arms, giving the man a bit more trust.

"Han." The man coldly answered without lowering his hands. He was still ready for a battle against this three shinobi. "Where are you from and what do you want?"

"We're from Konoha." Yuichi answered as he crossed his arms. "We want you to stay in our village."

"Konoha?" Han asked as he started to submerge into his thoughts. "Why would you want me to go there?"

"The Hokage has the purpose of taking the jinchuurikis back to Konoha as they have apparently caused trouble and conflicts between villages." Yuichi answered. He thought he maybe had revealed too much information, but he was sure it was necessary for the sake of the mission's success.

"Do you intend to use us as weapons?" Han asked adopted a more relaxed position, making Daichi take his fighting stance without him noticing.

"Don't even dare to, Uchiha." Yuichi said as he noticed Daichi's intentions.

"Whatever." The Uchiha said as Han turned to look behind him, finding the ninja. Daichi walked back to Aoba's side as Han kept his relaxed position.

"And to answer your question: not that I'm aware of, but I'm not much on favor of using you as weapons, so I won't let it happen." Yuichi's answer convinced Han successfully, he would accept to go to Konoha, at least for now.

"I'm going with you, then." Han said, getting the several paper bombs he'd put all around the place back.

"Interesting." Yuichi said to himself as he turned around and started to move towards Konoha. "I would like you to meet someone when we're there."


	6. Hard Training.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission to take Han to Konoha starts to go wrong as Team 10 does a brief training session prior to the Chuunin Exams.

The tree's branches made a little sound as some ninjas quickly moved through the forest by using them. They seemed to be in a rush as their speed was incredible. One of them, a man with a conical hat and a face mask that covered almost all of his face, was being escorted by other 3 shinobi. The man seemed really trusting about the shinobi that had just told them that they would take him to a village that wasn't even his own, which made the other shinobi suspect of him.

" _He is definitely planning something."_ Daichi thought, which eventually lead him to thinking of his old friend, Itachi, whose plans were mostly perfect. The Uchiha's face couldn't help but show some disgust and anger as this thoughts showed up in his mind.

Yuichi, who was the leader of the group, hadn't really paid much attention to the group, but he at least trusted in Aoba to inform him of any abnormality. He, as Tobirama's grandson, had some prejudice against the Uchiha, making him unable to fully trust on any of them.

" _Konoha..."_ The man with the conical hat thought as he continued struggling to follow the younger men's speed. " _Am I making the right decision? What would the Tsuchikage think of me?_ "

Aoba, who wasn't really paying attention on anything, was thinking of which sunglasses he would buy next. The ones he was wearing at the moment were getting a bit old, so he wanted to change them, and he definitely wanted some that really made him stood up. Fortunately for his interest in getting new sunglasses, the ones he had at that moment were totally destroyed by a really ugly looking man, who kicked his face as he went down from an upper branch.

After him, a blonde, young and way better looking man fell down from a higher tree. Both of them wore the same black robe with red clouds decorating it. Yuichi immediately recognized this robes and beckoned his companions to back off. Despite of his differences with the Senju, Daichi really respected him and accepted that he had a higher rank than him, so he still followed his instructions.

"Hmph." Han expressed his disappointment in the squad that escorted him as he ignored the Senju's orders and stepped forward to face the aggressors. "Leave me alone." The man, who already looked intimidating being silent, spoke up with a tone that only increased his presence.

"Let me think about it..." The blonde man said as he took his hand to his chin. As the man appeared to be taking his hand out of his robe, he throwed some white clay looking object. It exploded as soon as it touched the floor and, just like that, Han was thrown away by it.

Daichi immediately activated his Sharingan. The Sharingan always gave some presence during battles, but the men in the black robes didn't seem to care a lot about the dojutsu, specially the blonde one, who seemed to get even cheered up at the sight of a sharingan.

"Who are you?" Yuichi asked as he moved to Daichi's side, taking a defensive position.

"Why should we tell you?" The ugly man, who now appeared to have his back curved, asked back.

"I don't care! You destroyed my damn glasses!" Aoba yelled from behind, quickly moving towards the unknown men and trying to nail a kunai in the eye of the ugly man. As the kunai penetrated the man's eye, it made a sound similar to that of wood, making Aoba lose his concentration due to confusion.

The ugly man took the kunai out and quickly nailed it in the Jounin's eye, making him scream in pain. "Don't ever touch my puppets."

"No!" Yuichi yelled as he stopped his partner's fall to the ground with his hands. As he looked at how serious the injury was he comprehended how dangerous these men really were. The Senju looked behind him and saw Han, who had just come back, behind Daichi. The tall man was expressionless, as always. "We have to escape."

Han nodded in understanding, he was eager to collaborate with these foreign shinobi in order to escape from people as dangerous as the ones dressed in a black robe. As soon as Han nodded, Yuichi used a smoke bomb and then his incredible speed to escape from there. Daichi couldn't put up with this speed, but he still managed to escape quickly. Han, on the other hand, had to borrow some of his Bijuu's chakra to keep up with the pace, making a white aura cover his body.

"Shit." The ugly man said as the smoke finally dissipated, showing the disappearance of the man they were searching for.

"Damn, we're so dead." The blonde man said as he also noticed that they had successfully escaped.

"Don't worry, he's ours, we know he'll be in Konoha." The ugly man said as he jumped up to a higher tree.

"Wait, Sasori!" The blonde man yelled as he followed his partner.

* * *

"One." A boy dressed in a green suit said as he made push-ups. "Two." He continued making his friends give him a weird look.

"You never stop exercising, do you?" A brown-haired girl, who was sitting next to him, said. She wore a pink, sleeveless shirt with a blue pair of jeans.

"I have to keep training until Guy-sensei comes back." The boy said as he continued with his exercises.

"You can stop already." A brown-haired boy with white shirt. "Guy said that he'd be back in the training camp before the sun sets, so relax." He was sitting in the top of a log with other 2 logs at it's sides. Next to him, was Tenten, who simply decided to watch nature as she waited.

Lee was the first to notice his master's arrival as he stopped making push-ups. Might Guy, one of the strongest Jounin in Konoha, now arrived at the training camp. He was jogging as Lee noticed him, then stopped and waved at his students.

"You're participating in the chuunin exams!" Guy yelled as he showed the papers to his students. His smile couldn't be bigger. "The power of youth is strong in you!"

"Thanks, master, I couldn't be more proud and thankful to you!" Lee said as he started to cry out of happiness.

"Do not worry, my pupil, your youth will help you in this test!" Guy said as he dropped a couple of tears of pride.

Unfortunately, all Tenten and Neji could drop were drops of sweat as they cringed at their teammate and master's enthusiasm. Either way, they stood up to get the paper from their master.

"Anyway, thank you, Guy-sensei." Tenten said as she bowed in gratefulness. The man handed the paper to her and Neji as he gave them a big smile, then winking an eye to both of them.

"I'm really proud of you! Your youth is really admirable!" The Jounin yelled as he started to drop tears of pride as he gave his students a glance.

"I mean, we haven't even started the exams. What if we end up losing?" Neji said as he crossed his arms and got a doubtful expression in his face.

"It doesn't matter, I'm still really proud of you." He said as he continued crying out of happiness and pride.

"I'm proud of you too!" Lee said as he went back to crying next to Guy. Then, both of them were crying. This made both Tenten and Neji cringe again, it was impossible for them to get used to that.

* * *

"Shouldn't we be training like them?" Sakura asked as she got a disappointed expression on her face. She was pointing towards the members of team 10, who were working hard in their training.

The members of team 7, except for Kakashi, had been walking for a while now. They had talked about several things, but mainly about the chuunin exams.

As they walked next to one of the training camps, they saw team 10 training, which made them surprised. They all seemed really tired, but surprisingly they kept training. What surprised them the most was that Gohan was doing an absolutely harder training, carrying gigantic rocks from one side to another, using trees as weights and running at an amazing speed. But something got Sakura's attention the most was that as Gohan ran, Ino tried his hardest to reach him, she obviously wasn't able to, but she still tried, and for some reason, Gohan didn't notice.

"Training is for weak losers." Sasuke said as he continued walking, ignoring that his 2 teammates had already stopped. He was totally shocked at Gohan's training, but his pride was stronger than anything else.

"What's the point? The exams start tomorrow." Naruto said, shrugging afterwards. "It's not like training now will change anything."

"But..." Sakura wasn't able to think of something to convince her friends, so she gave up and continued walking next to them. " _We're going to regret this aren't we?"_

As Gohan kept running at the same pace, each time sweating more and more, Ino, who still tried to keep up with the saiyan's pace, finally collapsed out of tiredness, making Gohan notice her. Shikamaru and Chouji had already stopped their training and so they quickly went by her side. Her face was red and sweaty, with some pieces of grass attached to it as she had fallen face down towards the floor.

"Has she been trying to keep up with me?" Gohan asked as he grabbed the girl.

"Mhm." Shikamaru answered as he cleaned the sweat from his forehead.

"You should go to rest too, I have to find a way for Ino to be alright for tomorrow." Gohan said as he got a worried expression, turning back to look at Ino.

"We'll help you." Chouji said, taking out a bag of chips and eating some of them as Shikamaru started to complain.

"I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!" Gohan said, making Shikamaru lower his head in defeat.

"Whatever." The Nara said helplessly.

* * *

Ino now layed on a hospital bed as a doctor analysed her with his sight. He was submerged in his thoughts as he continued to glance at her. This made the blonde girl's friends get a bit uncomfortable. As wind entered the room and moved the curtains, the doctor finally talked.

"She just needs to rest, I don't understand why you came here." The doctor said, grabbing a piece of paper and throwing it into the garbage.

"Um, sir, we need to find a way to make her be ready for the chuunin exams tomorrow." Gohan said, smiling nervously after finishing his phrase. The doctor looked back at the saiyan with great surprise and some distrust in his face.

"If you were participating in the exams then why did you train so hard the day before?!" The man asked. "Anyways, unfortunately for you, there's nothing I can do for you young friend over here."

"Sigh." Gohan's head and arms lowered down as the boy was disappointed by the doctor's answer.

"Except to give her some pills." The doctor continued, making Gohan recover his normal stance.

* * *

Gohan was laying in his bed, trying to sleep. He'd never struggled with insomnia at any time of his life, but him being so homesick had surely caused him many problems. It had been several days now since he arrived. He now had friends and people to look up to, but the fact that there was probably no way to go back home just made him depressed.

As tears went down his face, he got up to grab a glass of water. On the way to his kitchen, he saw his messy desk. 2 towers of books were laying in the desk, he sighed as he remembered he had to get them back. After drinking the glass of water, he gave another glance to the desk, finding frustration at the thought of so many hours reading lost for him not to find anything.

He finally went back to bed and tried to get some sleep. As Gohan was finally able to sleep, several ANBU entered the house and carefully checked the entirety of it. After a couple of hours, they left the house without finding anything suspicious. 


	7. The Chuunin Exams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chuunin exams start!

The library was quiet, calm and almost empty as it always is. It's bookshelves, filled with books and scrolls of different topics and genres, that stayed still in their places, accumulating dust on them. Although there were janitors that helped to keep the library clean, some halls still had spider webs as the visitors were even rare to see there. Apart from the bookshelves, there was one more section in the place, in it were tables where people could sit down and read whatever book or scroll they wanted.

In one of the tables, there was always a girl, a nerdy girl that seemed to be the definition of a nerd incarnated, she even had the typical nerd glasses. Something was different, though, she was a bit nervous. In the same table as her, a boy with black, spiky hair was sitting, reading frantically a lot of books. Even she was surprised with how fast he read those books, it made her uncomfortable. After a couple of hours, the boy gave a slight hit to the table with his head and then let his head lay there.

Although the girl knew that he was frustrated, she didn't have the required experience to start a conversation with a stranger. After thinking of it for a couple of minutes, she moved her glance towards the boy, noticing that he was watching her. This made her blush as it was really uncomfortable for her, but she was determined to talk to him.

"What's your name?" She asked as a drop of sweat went down her face.

"Gohan." The boy said as he analysed the girl, noticing without much effort that she was really nervous. "What's yours?"

"Umm, Shiho." The girl answered as she finally looked back at her book. She started to play with her dark blonde hair trying to calm down.

"Do you know any book that has information related to dimensions and travelling through them? Maybe time travelling?" Gohan asked, making the girl look back at him with a totally shocked face.

"W-why would you want such a book?" She asked as she tried to remember if she had ever heard or read about a book like that.

"I am just curious about it..." The saiyan said nervously.

"Maybe you can find something related to it there." Shiho told him, pointing to one of the halls in the back of the library.

"Thanks!" Gohan said as he gave the girl a really big smile. Shiho couldn't deny that she felt good when she helped him, maybe she had made a new friend.

Gohan ran as fast as he could to get that book, he knew there was no need, but he really wanted to get it. He quickly arrived at the hall and found the book, but as he took it, the girl he had previously talked to came to the hall he was in. She had a nervous face as she saw Gohan with the book in his hands.

"W-why are you interested in space-time ninjutsu?" The girl shyly asked.

" _Wait, ninjutsu?_ " The saiyan discovered that he would need to train himself in ninjutsu to go back home. As Gohan grabbed the scroll of space-time ninjutsu, he waved at the girl. "I'll have to train more, I guess. Bye."

The young boy left the hall and went towards the old lady that was in charge of the library, then taking the scroll to his home. The girl was left confused as to what the boy just said.

" _Could he be able to use space time ninjutsu? No, that's impossible."_ The girl thought as she saw the boy leave the library. " _Is there anyone in this village that can actually do space-time ninjutsu?"_

* * *

A great amount of shinobi had gathered in the academy building. That day, the Chūnin exams were starting, and the academy building was being used for the first phase of the exam.

The Genin from Konohagakure and a selected group from Sunagakure and Otogakure were presenting themselves in this exam to get the higher rank of Chūnin. Between them, there were 5 teams of rookies that had been recommended for the exam even though they hardly had any experience. These teams are Team 5, Team 6, Team 7, Team 8 and Team 10. Some of them were more prepared than others, but surely all of them had the necessary abilities to compete.

The Jounin that were in charge of the rookie teams were present that day to give their students. Every team was already reunited, except for team 7, which was missing Kakashi. Asuma was really confident in his students as he knew that their training would help them a lot in the exams, and Gohan was a plus by himself alongside the potential the other kids had. On the other hand, Kurenai was a bit nervous as she was aware that her team wasn't as strong as the other ones. While Genma was still giving his team, team 5, some advice, Daichi was still not there. It didn't surprise his students, though, that's the way it had always been.

"I can't believe he was late this time. I really believed that he would arrive in time." Sakura said with a disappointment-filled expression.

"Nevermind him, we need to go now, the exam will start soon." Sasuke said as he started to walk towards the entrance of the building. Sakura followed him with no delay, while Naruto looked behind once more before following his friends.

"Do you think we'll have to fight the other teams?" Naruto nervously asked as he imagined Gohan beating all of them up and easily defeating them.

"Of course we will, dork." Sakura said as her annoyed expression changed to one that denoted more nervousness than annoyance for Naruto's comment.

"Don't worry, those weaklings will not defeat any of us." Sasuke confidently said as he imagined himself destroying Shikamaru, Chōji, Kiba and Gohan. "Well, maybe they'll defeat Sakura and you, Naruto, but not me."

Sakura's face was filled with surprise and a slight mix between sadness and disappointment as she heard how Sasuke believed she was useless. On the other hand, Naruto's face filled with annoyance and anger as he thought that the arrogant Sasuke would be gone, but he started to figure out that maybe that was the way he was.

As the three Genin took the stairs to the second floor, they noticed how a lot of ninjas were gathered in there, confusing the members of team 7 as they thought the exam was being held in the third one. Sasuke led his teammates towards the gathering of people, finding out what was happening.

Two shinobi were blocking the entrance to the room in which the exam was supposed to take place. Sasuke instantly noticed that this was a genjutsu as he saw the two shinobi attack and easily defeat a boy with a green suit and black hair, and a girl with brown hair and a pink shirt. Apparently, they had tried to enter the room and they were easily thrown away by the two ninja.

"Don't even bother, this is all an illusion." Sasuke said. "I noticed, but you should've noticed before, Sakura."

"Yeah, this is actually the second floor." Sakura added as the illusion faded away, revealing that they actually were on the second floor.

"Impressive." One of the ninja said, instantly attacking Sasuke after pronouncing that one word.

The Uchiha responded by aiming a kick to stop his opponent's attack, but both of them were stopped by the boy in the green suit that just some moments prior appeared to be a really weak shinobi. This took Sasuke by surprise, making him and his opponent lower their legs and recover their normal position.

"What about not showing our abilities?" The brown-haired girl angrily asked as she crossed her arms.

"I know, I'm sorry." The boy answered as he stood up. He turned his head and noticed Sakura's presence, waving at her while smiling as if he knew her from before.

Sakura waved back at him and gave him an awkward but friendly smile as she also seemed to know him from before. The boy approached the pink-haired girl as Neji approached Sasuke.

"Sakura, right?" The boy kindly asked, giving her a smile after asking the question.

"Yep." The girl answered as she nodded. "Lee, right?"

"Yeah!" Lee excitedly answered as he seemed to be happy that she had remembered his name.

On the other hand, Neji and Sasuke were having an intense glance battle as no one decided to speak up.

"I expected more from an Uchiha." The Hyūga said as he gave the boy a disappointed expression.

"Shut up, Hyuuga scum." Sasuke harshly replied as he gave his opponent a really menacing glance.

"At least my clan isn't dead." Neji reminded the boy. Sasuke's arm was stopped by Neji's, showing Sasuke who was clearly superior.

As all of this happened, Naruto and Tenten watched the two conversations. They finally noticed each other after a couple of seconds, and they awkwardly waved at each other as they did.

* * *

Gohan and his teammates were already waiting in front of the door. They were a bit confused as when they arrived there was no one but them. They thought that maybe it was a mistake, but as they were about to go to the previous floor, other Genin finally started to arrive.

Team 7 also arrived at the door, followed by a boy in a weird green suit, which made Gohan curious about him. Shikamaru was the first to notice that Sasuke appeared to have been involved in a fight recently as he had a couple of bruises.

"What happened?" Chōji asked Naruto as he stealthily pointed to the Uchiha.

"He fought that guy." The blonde said as he pointed to a boy who had some resemblance to Hinata. "He easily defeated Sasuke. He's a monster."

Shikamaru's face instantly filled with concern as he heard those word come out of Naruto's mouth. Ino, along with Chōji, became so shocked that they almost fall back. On the other hand, Gohan submerged into his thoughts. The saiyan was starting to notice that this world had many things he disliked. Unfortunately for the saiyan, just as he tried to confront the guy, the proctor of the exam told everyone to enter the class where it was being held.

As the last genin entered the room, the door behind him closed almost instantly and as he sat down, the proctor raised his voice to speak.

"I'm Ibiki Morino and I'll be the proctor of the first phase of the Chūnin exam." The man said as he kept his firm position. His black uniform made him stand out of the rest of Jounin present in the room. "Now, allow me to explain the rules."

 _"Now that I think about it, I've never done an exam in my whole life."_ Gohan thought as Ibiki kept explaining the rules.

"Now, the exam will start. Good luck." The man said as he sat down.

As soon as Naruto saw the exam, he was totally shocked as he wasn't able to answer any question. Gohan, who had spent a lot of time in studying thanks to his mother, was able to answer some of the questions, but some were simply too difficult for him to do. This made him frustrated, but then he remembered something, this was a world of ninjas, of course he'd be supposed to cheat, and so he waited for the inevitable.

" _Gohan, can you hear me?_ " Ino's voice said inside the saiyan's mind, just as he'd expected.

" _Yes."_ The boy answered. " _I don't have all the answers though."_

" _Don't worry, I have them, let me take control."_ As the blonde girl said this, Gohan let her take control of his body and she completed his exam through his body _._ Team 10 had successfully completed that phase.

As time passed by, several genin finished their exams as they had found out about the idea of cheating, while others, like Sakura, finished it thanks to their knowledge. Only Naruto had not figured out that the idea of all this was to cheat, but to his luck, the proctor made an announcement.

"As most of you must have finished by now, I shall tell you that there's an extra question." Ibiki said with a strong voice, surprising everyone. "It isn't in the exam. However, if you get it right, you instantly go through this phase, but if you get it wrong, you will not be allowed to try the exam ever again. You can retire so you are able to try next year, if you wish."

Several participants weren't able to keep up to the pressure, and some started leaving, making their teammates be taken out too.

"Oh, Yes, I forgot a little detail." The man said as he got a smile in his face. "If you retire, then all of your teammates will also be disqualified."

The pressure now increased, but, not minding the consequences, some participants still left as they just weren't able to stand it or just didn't feel ready for what was to come.

"Anyone else that wants to leave?" Ibiki asked as now close to half the participants had left.

Naruto stood up, taking all of his friends by surprise, specially Sakura and Sasuke. The pink-haired girl screamed at him and told him to sit down again, but she was ignored.

"I'm ready for the last question, ask it already, old man." Naruto said as his face became filled with determination.

"Alright, if no one else is going to leave..." Ibiki said as everyone in the room became nervous. "You all passed. That was the last question! Congratulations!"

Naruto fell back as his face became white, he was so relieved that the last question hadn't been anything related to the normal exam. Everyone in the room were between confused and relieved.

"Now follow me, I'll take you to the next phase." Ibiki said as he beckoned everyone to follow him.

* * *

Ibiki led the group of Genin remaining to the entrance of the 44th training camp. It was known as the forest of death due to the use it was given during the Chūnin exams. Next to the door, a dark purple, spiky-haired woman was waiting for them. She was wearing a quite provocative outfit that easily won some of the Genin's attention. On the other side of entrance to the forest, another big group of genin arrived.

The rookie teams were finally together. It didn't take long for the other more experienced Genin to take the rookies apart, so they at least would get to know each other. Gohan was surprised to see that Shiho would participate on the exams. Her team was formed by herself, another weak-looking but cute girl with a purple shirt and a blue pair of shorts; and another guy that had some resemblance with Hinata, who also had a sweater similar to the one of Hinata, but he didn't zip it. Shiho shyly waved at Gohan as the saiyan did the same and Shikamaru, who noticed this, started complaining about Gohan not being focused in the exams.

Team 6 consisted of a brown-haired boy who wore a blue, short sleeved shirt with a black pair of black shorts; a black-haired girl with green eyes, wearing a red shirt similar to the one of her partner and a gray pair of shorts; and a really muscular brown-haired girl that had the same tattoos that Kiba had, with a sweater similar to the one of Kiba.

"They're all yours, Anko." Ibiki said as he quickly left, waving at the woman, who waved back.

"Alright." She said as she jumped down from the fence of the forest. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, and I'll be proctoring the second part of the Chūnin exams, so please, make it interesting."


	8. The Forest of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuichi helps his teammates and Han to escape. The Genin teams get to know each other as the second phase of the Chuunin exams start.

Explosions were seen from the village in the outskirts of the forest, making the villagers panic. Their leader was thinking of any possible way to stop any threat or destruction that could arrive to his village, he didn't want to anyone to get hurt. He finally gathered a group of men and women that offered themselves to fight and took them to the entrance of the village. People evacuated the village, following the road that took to a nearby town.

Meanwhile, inside the forest, 4 Jounin level ninjas tried to avoid these explosions. Han, who just joined the other 3 because he needed help to escape from the 2 men that were trying to capture him, knew the area and therefore knew that there was a big but humble village close to the forest. Yuichi, the leader of the group and the mission, did not want to leave his group as he thought his teammates weren't really able to guide themselves correctly, but he still knew that, as a leader, he had to sacrifice himself to fight the aggressors off to give them a chance to escape and complete their mission successfully. Daichi, the second most experienced ninja of the group, thought that escaping would be useless and wanted to stop and fight, but he knew that Yuichi, mainly because of his resentment with the Uchiha, would leave him if he considered it necessary.

"I don't think we're losing them." Aoba nervously said as he started to fear for his life.

"We need to fight them." Daichi firmly said as he gave Yuichi a defiant glance.

Yuichi kept himself submerged in his own thoughts as he did not stop moving from branch to branch. The Uchiha's eyes filled with frustration and anger as he was ignored by his leader. Aoba's nerves started to increase as Han repeatedly looked behind him, where explosions continued to menace their lives. The mysterious masked ninja could see animals escaping desperately as they advanced in their way out of the forest, he felt really empathetic as he noticed their horror when explosions got close to them. The Senju finally got out of his train of thought as he made the decision.

"You have to continue escaping." Yuichi said before being interrupted by Daichi.

"Don't you see that we're about to get killed?!" The Uchiha yelled; making Yuichi raise his arm, beckoning him to make silence.

"I need you to tell the Hokage that I'm sorry." The Senju said as he blue cape showed how his speed decreased. "I'll fight them, you take Han to the village."

"What?" Aoba asked with clear shock in his face. "Aren't you the Hokage's personal guard?"

"That's why I need you to say sorry for me." The white-haired man explained as his cape finally stopped being moved by the wind, indicating that he'd stopped moving.

"Whatever." Daichi said as he beckoned both Aoba and Han to follow him, noticing Han's white coat of chakra.

"Run! They're coming!" Yuichi announced as he saw 2 figures getting closer and closer to them.

The three men quickly left the place, leaving the Senju to fight against the ninja from Akatsuki. Tobirama's grandson admired the explosions as they progressively approached him, threatening the life of the animals and his own. One final explosion took place right in front of him, making his cape move violently, as the blonde man and the ugly one found him.

"Oh, so you're alone." Deidara said as he gave Yuichi a smile equal to that of a maniac.

"This will be interesting." The ugly man said as he got several Kunai out with his two hands.

A drop of sweat went down the Senju's face as he got in his own fighting stance.

* * *

"Understood?" Anko asked as she finished explaining the rules for the second part of the exam.

Most of the Genin nodded, showing that they had heard the rules. Anko jumped from the fence as she saw this, showing a smile as she looked back at the group.

"Alright then, you shall now enter the Forest of Death." The purple-haired woman said, shifting her previous smile to a creepier one and inviting the genin to enter the forest.

The Genin proceeded to enter the dense and dark forest, letting their bodies be consumed by the darkness that existed inside it. The younger shinobi were mostly nervous and scared as they believed themselves not to be strong enough for such a test as the Chūnin Exams.

Team 7 was quite different, though. Normally, the whole Genin team would have the same feeling about this phase of the exam, which would be between confidence on themselves or direct fear or nervousness. In Kakashi's team, the contrast made it stand out from the other teams. While Sasuke and Naruto were confident on their abilities, Sakura was really unsure, nervous and even afraid of what could potentially happen. She knew that they would have to fight against ninjas who were stronger, more experienced or more intelligent than them; and she wasn't really sure if they would be able to overcome such a challenge.

Meanwhile, team 10 was searching for the scroll they were missing. Even though they were rookies, they were quite confident on their abilities, mainly because of Gohan's strength and Shikamaru's intelligence. They still had a little weakness, though, Ino was still tired and was still sore from her trying to follow Gohan's speed training. None of her teammates knew why she did such an unreasonable thing, but they still trusted her enough to know that she would have a good reason to do it. Chouji was just focused in surviving as he wanted to live to eat more chips.

Team 8, on the other side, was focused in keeping a formation that would assure them not to get attacked without them knowing. This plan was made by Kiba, who wouldn't just let his teammates get knocked out or killed, specially Hinata, who Kiba liked a lot. Shino knew perfectly that Kiba would abandon him if he had to choose between him and the Hyuga, but he didn't care as he was conscious that his abilities were superior to those of the Inuzuka and the Hyuga. Hinata didn't know about anything that was happening in his teammates' minds, but she was determined to become a Chunin in order to impress Naruto.

Guy's team was more experienced and they demonstrated this. They were calm and confident in their own abilities, yet they still didn't underestimate any opponent they had. Each member were individually good, each member had their own specialty, but they were even better as a team. Neji's style helped with the defensive aspect of their different strategies, while Lee's strength and speed defined the offensive part and, meanwhile, Tenten normally acted as support for both Neji and Lee. The Hyuga genius occasionally caused problems to the team, but Guy worked in his egoism for this exams, making him adapt better to team work, but his strong beliefs and ego persisted.

Team 5 relied mainly in Shiho's intelligence and plans. For this time, Shiho planned to get the scroll they were lacking and then avoid fighting until the end of the phase. She thought that with Yakumo's great genjutsu capacity, they would be able to easily trick another team into giving them their scroll or just directly losing it for team 5 to get it. Shiho had also planned to have Nobuyuki to use his abilities with the byakugan to fight offensively if it was needed, but as he was just able to use it in one eye, then the plan still depended on Yakumo.

Team 6 just didn't care about a plan, they decided to just improvise even though Masato didn't agree. As Ikue and Akko discused about it, he just remained silent as he always did, not participating and not giving his opinion. Ikue knew that their opportunities of going through that phase were all on her and her black panther, Akemi. Masato already knew that Ikue thought she'd carry him and his cousin, Akko, but he just decided to ignore this thoughts and decided to help in every single chance he could. Akko just was ready to run as fast as she could and distract her opponents to then defeat them, just as she always did.

As Gohan was able to feel the energies around him, he was able to avoid the energies that were just too strong for his teammates to fight with. He knew he could easily defeat any of these energies, but he preferred to let his partners fight too and so he wouldn't take the risk of losing one of them. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were weirded out at times as Gohan abruptly changed the direction he was going on, and as he was the one guiding the group, they followed him. Their surprise was bigger when he stopped moving at all, they did not need to see his face to know that something was wrong, making them be afraid. Gohan finally regained his composure and turned to look at them.

"I don't think we can avoid this one." He said with a serious tone, revealing what he was doing.

"What do you mean with avoiding?" Ino asked with a challenging voice. "So that's why we took those aggressive turns..."

"Why do you look so worried, though?" Choji asked as he scratched the back of his head. His face now showed concern as he continued to speak. "Aren't you supposed to be really strong?"

"Y-yeah, but I don't think I can protect you while I fight with someone this powerful." The saiyan explained as a drop of sweat ran down his face. The energy was getting closer and closer to the group as he spoke. "I normally can defeat someone like that without much effort, but protecting you from someone like that could make things harder."

"Is he really that strong?" Shikamaru asked as Ino's face showed a bit of anger. As she was about to speak up, the Nara raised his hand, beckoning her to keep silent.

"He can easily kill all of you together." He said, detecting that the energy was now behind him as soon as he stopped talking. "And he's here."

The saiyan abruptly turned back at the energy, quickly kicking it's head without even looking at it's face. He ordered his friends to run as he ran quickly to were that person had been sent with Gohan's kick. He was a bit confused, though, he noticed that said person was alone, which shouldn't even happen in the first place. This gave the saiyan more reasons not to trust this person. He also noticed at that moment that the energy changed to an evil one, making Gohan increase his power level a bit more.

As one final tree went down due to the person's body colliding against it, Gohan finally saw it. His face had one half of a woman's face and another of a snake-looking man. Both faces showed disgust at the strength of the kick they had received, then changing to a more serious and angry one as it got up. As the saiyan showed his confusion, the man finally took the woman's half from his face, revealing that his actual appearance was the one of the snake-looking man. This shocked Gohan as the presence made by his looks could be compared to the one of Frieza, who still occasionally appeared in the boy's nightmares.

The man noticed Gohan's face, smiling creepily in response. His tongue went out of his mouth, showing it's inhuman extension, and started licking the man's lips in a way of showing the pleasure received when people reacted like that at his presence. This weirded Gohan out even more and made the man burst out laughing. The saiyan finally got in his fighting stance as the man stopped laughing and raised his voice.

"Oh you don't want to fight me, kid." The man said as he licked his lips while showing his creepy smile.

Gohan quickly moved behind his back, giving him a punch strong enough to break the bones of someone as strong as Tien. The punch proved to be effective as the man was thrown away by this hit, but the saiyan kicked him back down as he did not want him to escape. Surprisingly, he was still alive and did not appear to have any broken bones. As the man got up, he cleaned the blood that had came out of his mouth due to some of his internal organs being instantly destroyed with Gohan's attack.

"How?" Orochimaru yelled angrily as he started doing gestures. Gohan instantly knew that the man was doing a jutsu. "How can a kid be so powerful?!"

As the boy approached the snake-looking man, a cloud of smoke appeared. The smoke made Gohan cough, making him not notice that the man had escaped. As soon as the smoke disappeared, he was able to notice that his energy had disappeared. His frustration wasn't enough to make him forget the fact that he had left his friends on their own. He ran with a 50% of his maximum speed, reaching them in no time. He was relieved when he saw his friends were safe and sound.


	9. The Forest of Death part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ANBU give the Third a record of their mission as well as some important documents as the second phase of the Chuunin exams continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on I'll keep doing weekly updates as I also have to update my other fanfics (which I have abandoned for a while). If I ever fail to update when I'm supposed to, please be patient, I'll be writing 3 stories at the same time.

Light entered the room through the big window that let the Hokage observe the village he was entitled to protect, the village he loved so much despite it's several flaws. His glance was positioned towards this window, turning his back on the ANBU that were currently in his office. The old Hokage turned back, letting his hands fall from his back, and sat down in his chair. He checked on some documents he'd just ask some ANBU to bring him and finally turned his gaze at the soldiers. This documents had the exact date when the village was attacked by the Kyubi and it showed the confirmed deaths of that tragic day.

"Were you succesful in your mission?" The Hokage asked in a calm tone as his gaze went back to the documents. He was frantically searching for something in it.

The ANBU turned to look at each other as they discussed, through their eyes, who would answer the Third's question. After a couple of seconds of weird looks, the youngest one of them decided to speak. "Yes, sir, we were able to enter the suspect's house." Hiruzen stopped moving his finger as it was going down the papers he was checking.

"Did you find anything worth of mentioning?" The old man continued moving his finger through the list of names.

Once again, the ANBU started to give looks between each other to choose the one who would continue speaking. This time, these looks stopped earlier than the last time as the youngest one answered again. "No, sir, he was free from any suspicious objects."

As the Hokage raised his head and opened his mouth, another ANBU spoke up. "There was a lot of books and scrolls, one of them was a forbidden one about space-time jutsu."

"Space-time jutsu, you say?" The Hokage raised his eyebrow as he doubted there even existed a scroll about such techniques. He kept his finger in the paper he was examining as he questioned them with his gaze. "Does a scroll of such kind exist?"

The mask of the ANBU member hid his face as his eyes widened, showing his pure shock. The other ANBU members were surprised too, but not to the extent of the one who had spoken up. "Don't tell me there is no record of a scroll of such kind..."

The Hokage gave the papers one last look before taking his hands up, gathering them and holding his head with them. "That category hardly even exists. The quantity of times where such jutsus have been seen do not surpass the two digits."

The youngest of the ANBU got one of his hands to his chin and started to theorize in his head. A couple of minutes of silence gave him the time to obtain a convincing idea. "What if the scroll is fake? Maybe someone external to the village got it in."

Hiruzen played with his beard as he got into his own thoughts, finally finding that it was a plausible scenario, and finally nodding as a form of showing his approval to the young one. "To confirm it, you shall go back to the boy's house. You should not have any trouble with it as he's currently participating in the exams."

The ANBU nodded before leaving the office so quickly that a normal person would not notice. The Third was obviously capable of seeing them leave, he did not need a Sharingan or a Byakugan to have an exceptional vision. The known as God of Shinobi had spent some part of his life exercising his eyes and that training maintained throughout the years, even now that he was starting to grow older at a faster rate.

Hiruzen finally turned his gaze back to the paper and continued reading through the people with a second name that began with N. He went back over and over, as if he was trying to convince himself of something he didn't really wanted to confirm. As he wasn't able to find him there, he continued reading carefully through the rest of the list, drops of sweat going down his face. His hand got away from the paper, trembling, directly to wipe the sweat that was coming out of his forehead. "So it is true, I did not find Minato's body that day. How could I have forgotten that? Did I order an immediate search mission to find his body? Could I have been irresponsible and stupid enough to let the enemy have the body of a Hokage?"

Many questions went through his mind, some were answered and some others directly had no answer, or at least he could not give one. He remembered ordering a search for the Fourth's body, but does not remember the outcome of it. He supposed they'd failed because of the records saying that this body was never found, but why would it just disappear? _Could it be that Jiraiya was right...?_ The old Hokage now thought about Jiraiya's words in their last meeting.

" _You can never assume a Hokage is dead when the body is missing."_ Hiruzen wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it seemed to him for a regular human being to survive a direct fight against a tailed-beast. " _I know him and I know how strong he is! He is not the one who just dies fighting against a little fox!"_ The Third Hokage was now laughing, but not because of the ridiculous part of it, but because maybe Jiraiya has a good point on believing Minato is alive. "You crazy bastard."

* * *

The forest was more silent than they would've expected. They believed that there being so many shinobi, lots of noises would be made, either from punches, kicks, explosions, screams and much more things. Team 5 had just previously heard a strong noise, the one of an impact against several trees. The young Genin were curious about it, naturally, but they never expected to end up being as threatened as they were. In front of them, a snake-looking man smiled creepily at Nobuyuki.

The young Hyuuga was absolutely horrified at the sight of Orochimaru, who slowly moved towards him. The darkness of the forest didn't help a lot when fighting was needed, and this was one of those times. Nobuyuki activated his Byakugan in one of his eyes, the only one he could activate it in. Orochimaru quickly dashed to the boy's side, bending down to reach his ear.

"Hello, half blood." The boy's eyes widened as his fear made him paralyze. His friends were shocked too, but they snapped out of it quickly so they could stay alive.

Yakumo tried to use a Genjutsu against the snake-looking man, but it proved useless and the man, who noticed it, kicked her away. Shiho, the only one standing had to quickly think of something. She got her hand on her weapons bag, but the hand of that scary, snake man grabbed her, punched her several times in the stomach and, finally, threw her away.

As a hit against a tree could be heard, Nobuyuki turned to his friends. She found Yakumo laying down in the floor, unconscious, and Shiho laying against a tree, blood coming out of her mouth. The Hyuuga's eyes started to drop tears out of fear of losing his life. For some reason, the man was just laughing as he looked at him, but it didn't really matter to him as it gave him enough time to react. He charged against the snake man, throwing several kunai at him.

"Earth style: Rock Slide!" Five rocks were raised from the floor, quickly moved above Orochimaru and quickly thrown down.

The snake man avoided them with little to no effort and, once again, laughed at the kid. Nobuyuki started doing gestures once again, this time keeping silence. The boy suddenly disappeared and Orochimaru started looking for him as if it was a game. The Hyuuga appeared behind the man, quickly stabbing him with 6 kunai.

"Oh, that's new." Orochimaru said as his neck turned inhumanly to check on the kunai in his back.

Nobuyuki moved back, taking some distance from the man. The boy was now trembling due to the man's creepy but amazing ability of moving and twisting his body.

"Come on, kid, show me your true power." Orochimaru was getting a bit bored now, he wanted to do this quickly.

"What power?" The kid started to take some steps backwards as he spoke.

"Oh, I know how to get it out." Orochimaru dashed towards the boy, reaching him in no time. He nailed a kunai in the boy's arm and kicked him down. Orochimaru kicked him again, throwing him away against another tree. The man's foot now stepped on the kid's head as he laughed maniacally. "Don't you get it? You're going to die!" He kicked the kid again, but this time in the abdomen. "Your friends are going to die!" He kicked the kid once again, but stronger.

As the kid thought of his friends dying, he got a weird feeling inside him, as if something physical was changing. Orochimaru said something before his left eye started to tingle. He was curious about it, because he just has always been able to use his Byakugan in his right eye. Then, it hit him, it didn't feel like the Byakugan, it felt different.

"Yes! Finally!" Orochimaru yelled, kicking the boy's face as he spoke. "You finally awakened the sharingan!"

_The... sharingan...?_ Nobuyuki thought as he rested down in the floor after being hit by the man.

"Now I'll... take you... as m... bod..." Orochimaru finally collapsed down to the floor. His internal organs had been absolutely crushed by Gohan in his previous fight, and now the blood loss caused by Nobuyuki's kunai had caused his body to collapse.

The Hyuuga noticed this and took the chance to escape as he was perfectly conscious of how superior this man was compared to himself. He stood up and quickly went to check on his friends, finding that they were still alive. Making a great effort, he grabbed both of the girls and took them with him, far away from the monster they had just fought against.

* * *

The sound of leaves dancing at the pace of wind was heard along with the sound of shinobi fighting and screaming, it truly was a scary landscape for the youngest Genin. In the case of team 8, they had avoided every fight they could as Hinata was truly scared and they couldn't really afford having a fight against three other shinobi without the Hyuuga. Kiba was just thinking of the well being of his teammates when he took the decision of avoiding unnecessary battles even though he had been excited for the battles he'd have at the start of the exams. Shino was starting to get mad because of Hinata's uselessness, he got infuriated at the fact that they wouldn't even fight, what they needed to do to actually go to the next phase of the exams, because of the weak Hinata.

Shino looked down at Kiba's need to protect Hinata, because when he talked about protecting 'his teammates' he actually meant Hinata. The bug expert knew he needed to confront Kiba about his stupid behavior, because at that pace, they were going to get eliminated just in the second phase. Hinata, on the other hand, couldn't stop blaming herself for being so useless, she had noticed Shino's anger and if she had to be honest, she understood him. The Hyuuga's eyes had been close to tears three times since the second phase started, and that didn't really helped her reputation as heir of the main branch of the clan.

The heir of the Hyuuga had always been really shy and soft compared to her cousin and sister, she had always felt inferior to both of them, always weaker and a shame for her family. Neji never had a good relationship with the girl, but she still tried to be as kind as she could; this was mainly because of her not really knowing what made the prodigy of the Byakugan hate her so much. At least Hanabi had always been a strong and supportive younger sister, a great friend for Hinata. She also couldn't help but think of Naruto, that sweet, blonde kid that had always helped her so much ever since they were little kids.

Hinata sighed as she continued moving through the branches of the forest alongside her teammates, she had decided to try and be brave for once in her life, for Naruto. The blonde boy went through her mind once more before being snapped out of her thoughts by Kiba, who announced that he'd seen a group of Genin nearby. Shino sighed in annoyance as he thought they were about to avoid another fight, but as he was about to confront the Inuzuka for this, the heir of the Hyuuga clan spoke up.

"L-let's fight!" Hinata hesitated for a couple of seconds before continuing. "It's not like we'll achieve anything if we keep fighting like this."

Shino's face remained emotionless, but he was really impressed by the girl he just had thought of as useless and weak. Kiba's face denoted concern and disapproval at first, but it quickly changed to a wide smile as he was also surprise about the Hyuuga's statement. The Inuzuka beckoned his teammates to follow him as he started to plan a strategy.

As they reached a tree that was just behind of where the other teams had stopped, Kiba turned to his partners to explain the plan. Shino wanted to go really straight forward, but he figured that the most intelligent decision would be to hear and follow his friend's instructions. Hinata was perfectly conscious that the plan might exclude her a little, but she was still determined to give her best to accomplish whatever task she needed.

"Alright, so I figured that all of us have great offensive potential, but we need to adapt ourselves to different roles." Kiba made some gestures as he explained so it would be easier to understand. To Shino, this gave the Inuzuka the image of being a good leader, or at least a good teacher. "After briefly analyzing each of your abilities, I decided to have myself and Akamaru as the main force of attack with Shino acting as a support. You, Hinata, will help us with defense by blocking the attacks we're not able to block and by helping us with the third member of the opposing team." Both the bug expert and the Byakugan user nodded in understanding, making Kiba smile pridefully as he was able to perfectly explain his plan to his teammates. "Another thing: we'll all enter the fight from different directions, Shino from behind, Hinata from either the left or right, and Akamaru and I will attack them directly."

"Why didn't you specify in which direction Hinata should attack?" Shino quickly made his question as Kiba stopped talking.

"Because it doesn't really matter where she attacks from, what we need is her to enter right after both of us." His hand gestures had really been helping Hinata as she didn't know that much about war tactics and strategies. "To take them by surprise, you know."

Both Shino and Hinata nodded one more time before dashing through the branches to their respective places. Before going down, Kiba broke one of the branches of the tree he was in purposefully, which scared his dog at first, but as Kiba explained it to it, Akamaru calmed down.

This sound made the other three ninjas aware that someone was there, getting them nervous and helping Kiba achieve the objective he had when doing that. Both the Inuzuka and his dog went down from the tree and quickly charged against the three opposing shinobi, being able to connect several hits before Shino's entrance. The bug expert quickly unleashed a swarm of parasites over one of the shinobi, leaving him unable to fight. Kiba continued fighting against the other two Genin, but as Akamaru attacked one of them, it was a shadow clone. Behind him, the original ninja was about to nail a kunai in the dog trainer's neck; Hinata made a quick and strong entrance, her Byakugan already active, and with just one hit disabled the opponent's arm, giving Kiba the opportunity to give him a finishing blow.

Shino's bugs had already left one of the ninjas unconscious as Akamaru, along with Kiba, attacked the remaining enemy. Hinata found a sky scroll in the bag of one of the Genin, although her trembling hands made it difficult for her to grab it. The bug expert went back to Hinata and extended his hand towards her, getting his teammate to give him the scroll, to which Shino nodded in gratefulness. The dog trainer had defeated the remaining ninja some time ago, but he just wanted to admire her face without her noticing as he thought it would be uncomfortable. Kiba had already accepted the Hyuuga's love for Naruto, it had been hard at first, but he had to let her decide for herself.

"Great job!" Kiba said as he went back to his friends, giving them a big smile.

"Yeah, whatever." Shino said as he hid the scroll inside his jacket. Hinata smiled back at Kiba, making him blush as Akamaru gave him a confused expression.


	10. Forest of Death. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rookie Genin teams struggle during the second phase of the Chuunin exams. Meanwhile, Anko Mitarashi, the proctor of the second phase of the exams, figures there's something fishy going on in there.

Itachi knew he'd made a mistake when he joined the organization in his desperate try to accept his new life, but no one could rewind time, no one could fix their mistakes. That day, an urgent meeting, that's what Pain said at least, was being held. All of the members of Akatsuki were there, even Deidara and Sasori, who just some hours prior had been fighting against one of the strongest shinobi in the entire world. Itachi was silent and expressionless, as he always was, and next to him was Kisame, his partner. The humanoid shark was annoyed by the fact that the clearly most important members of the organization were on Pain's side, while the others like him and the Uchiha were standing in front of them.

The reunion was held inside a secret room right under the tallest building in the Village Hidden in the Rain, where the original Akatsuki once met, although it appeared to be more of an abandoned room rather than one that had been used just some years ago. Itachi was quite curious about the place where the meeting was being held as it normally was in a cave and never a physical meeting, but a meeting in which the members projected themselves with chakra. Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki, was the first to speak up.

"You may be wondering why I asked all of you to meet..." Pain said with his deep and intimidating voice, making Deidara nervous of what he could possibly say. "Our mission is to capture all the jinchuuriki... but it seems that we are not the only ones with this objective." The members on the opposite side of Pain were either intrigued or surprised about such a statement, except for Deidara and Sasori, who were the ones that gave the leader such information. "Konoha... The Village Hidden in the Leaves is trying to gather all of the tailed beasts for their egoistic desires. The corrupt Hokage and his servants are working to gather the most dangerous weapons of our world." Itachi frowned at this last statement, as he doubted that Sarutobi would be capable of such thing as provoking another Ninja War. "Recently, one of our spies found that a mysterious kid fell down from the skies and they have already recruited him as shinobi."

Itachi was curious of that last statement, but right before he was going to make his question, someone else raised his voice. "A spy? Since when do we have a spy inside Konoha? Who is this spy? I have many questions, honestly, and I would really appreciate if you'd answer them, sir." One of the masked members on the same side as Pain asked, lowering both his voice and energy as his questions progressed. A blue haired girl turned to him with an angry expression, but Pain grabbed her shoulder and stopped her from doing anything. Pain now turned to the man, who was already looking at the leader.

"Those surely are many questions, but I will gladly answer them." Pain calmly said, keeping his deep and intimidating tone. "We have paid several shinobi in every single one of the five great nations, and unfortunately, I cannot answer your last question as we can't afford to lose our spy in Konoha." The redhead man turned back to his previous position, inducing the blonde masked man to do so as well. "I called you all here because we need a way to end the Village Hidden in the Leaves before they are able to stop us. It would be easier if Orochimaru hadn't left us, but I believe that Itachi should be enough help to us."

The Uchiha hesitated for some seconds before nodding, to which Pain responded by nodding back. He didn't want to have anything to do with the village after what he'd done and as he remembered that Sasuke was still there, his hands started shaking, gaining the blonde masked man's attention. Now another masked man was speaking, this one had long black hair that for some reason reminded him of his little brother. He didn't pay much attention to it as he just started thinking of a way to deal with the possible invasion of Konoha and the probable death of his brother. "That's why we have to attack in 4 years from now." Itachi snapped out of his thoughts, giving a confused look to Kisame, who ignored him.

"It's settled then." Konan said with the cold tone that was typical of her. "You all have been assigned a specific jinchuriki. You already know what happens if you fail." Everyone else except for Pain nodded in understanding, making her nod back as a way of telling them to leave. Itachi broke the genjutsu he'd made and went out from one of the corners of the room as Kisame turned into water, revealing that he was a water clone. Hidan laughed at this as he tried to pat the Uchiha in the back, making him explode into smoke.

* * *

A drop of sweat went down the Senju as two members of Akatsuki stood right in front of his eyes, smiles on their faces and fear hidden deep inside the experimented jounin. _Shit._ He had to stop them so his teammates could survive and complete the mission. He never really was a creative man, but he still found ways to defeat enemies stronger than him; this wasn't the case now. The blonde man noticed the concern hidden inside his eyes and started laughing at what he perceived to be a pathetic old man scared of death, scared of his destiny. "What's so funny, punk?"

Sasori's eyes hiding in his puppet suddenly widened as the sound of a punch and his partner's complains for pain reached his ears. Yuichi had taken impulse to give Deidara a hit in the stomach, strong enough to have him out of the fight for a while. As the blonde man fell down from the branch of the tree he was standing on, Yuichi turned to the ugly man with a more serious and confident expression. "H-how..." Was all he could say before the Senju quickly attacked him, using the kunai to create several holes in his body, confirming the fact that he didn't bleed.

"What are you?" Yuichi quickly blocked the attack of his opponent with his arms as he finished his sentence. The man threw a barrage of kunai at the Senju, making this last one use a substitution jutsu in order to survive. The ugly man charged once more against the Senju, this time going directly for physical confrontation, to which the Jounin answered to by trying to kick him, easily being dodged. "Air style: Hurricane!" His opponent was thrown away deep into the forest as a giant tornado appeared from Yuichi. "This is my chance -no, my teammates..." The Senju turned to the direction where his teammates had gone, moving in the same direction.

* * *

Some of the Uchiha's hair was cut as a long-haired man aimed a kunai at his forehead, being able to narrowly avoid it thanks to his sharingan. Sakura watched horrified as Naruto jumped into the fight with the knowledge that the man was perfectly able to kill all of them. The blonde boy threw several shuriken as the man, only achieving to cut some of the man's hair and getting his attention. As the man revealed his snake-like face to Naruto, he created several shadow clones, trying to distract him as he thought of some other way to beat him. Sasuke stood up and saw Orochimaru destroying the last shadow clone of the blonde kid, making both Genin scared.

Pink hair suddenly was the first thing he saw as the green-eyed girl jumped into him, nailing a kunai in his shoulder. The girl's widened as she actually was able to do what she wanted to, but she wasn't able to celebrate for much time until Orochimaru grabbed her and threw her directly at the floor. Naruto was enfuriated by this, which caused him to charge irrationally against his clearly stronger opponent. Unsurprisingly, the blonde boy was easily thrown back with just a kick right in his face, making the Uchiha the only one who wasn't knocked down.

As Sasuke's nerves got worse, the man in front of him threw up a considerable amount of blood, creating an image that would easily leave a normal kid of his age with a severe trauma. "S-sh-shit..." The man's words acted as a signal for Sasuke's attack to begin. Unfortunately, his opponent quickly regained his composure and grabbed the Uchiha by the hair, leaving him suspended in the air. The man gave the Uchiha some strong hits in the abdomen to make sure there would be no resistance, and then proceeded to bite the boy's neck, leaving a black mark on it.

The snake-looking man threw the kid away as he quickly ran away from the place, not without telling Sasuke that he could give him the power he needed to defeat Itachi. Sasuke finally went unconscious as he saw Sakura stand up and check on Naruto. The pink-haired girl made sure Naruto was alright before checking on the Uchiha. Sakura was the first to notice the black mark on the Uchiha's neck, telling Naruto, who was sitting next to his friends despite the pain caused by the battle against the man. The Haruno started to laugh out of relief as she confirmed that Sasuke was also alright, catching the blonde's attention, who joined her.

Then, as she continued to laugh, tears started to go down her face right to her chin. Her laugh had now turned into crying, which made Naruto instantly stop laughing and want to comfort her, although he didn't really know how to do it. "This was just too close..." The girl managed to say, tears still flooding her face. "We could've been killed like we were nothing... and-and" She wasn't able to finish the sentence before crying a bit louder.

Naruto knew this was a natural reaction, he also was horrified about how close this was to being their last battle. He stood up, not minding the pain, and sat down closer to his teammate, as he just offered a place for her to cry. The girl accepted his hug and cried on Naruto's chest, which reminded the Uzumaki of the times when Iruka stood by his side when he cried, always there for him. "Don't worry, we'll get over this soon." This words calmed her down more than they should have, maybe because of his tone or maybe because of the security both of her teammates gave her after the mission at the Land of the Waves. She had to admit that she had never even though of one day being comforted by the guy he once saw as stupid and immature.

The girl moved away after some minutes, wiping her tears away once she did and finally smiling at the Uzumaki, who gave her one of his wide smiles back along a thumbs up. Sakura laughed softly at this before she remembered they were in the Chuunin Exams. "We should get moving, but who will carry Sasuke?"

"I will, Sakura." Naruto reassuringly answered, keeping a serious expression as he kept talking. "But then you'd have to protect both me and Sasuke." Surprisingly for him, the pink-haired girl gave him a nod, followed by a determined expression.

"It's you and me now." She said as she helped Naruto grab the Uchiha, getting him into the blonde's back, where he would be easier to carry. They surely were fast to leave the place, but a different Genin team was also quick to arrive at the place where Team 7 had just been in.

* * *

Konoha's security for this Chuunin exams was higher than it normally was, maybe due to it's ally, Suna, participation on this edition of the exams. That's why one of the proctors was quick to tell Anko, the main proctor of this phase, when he found the corpse of three young Genin laying down at the floor. He wouldn't normally mind as this phase of the exam was meant to be the perfect simulator of an actual battlefield, so killing was both allowed and expected, but what made him actually mind those corpses was the way they seemed to have been killed and that they were Daichi Uchiha's rookie team. One of the corpses lay headless and dismembered, as the one next to it was just unrecognizable due to the way it's face had been destroyed, leaving the other body laying on a tree, apart from the rest, as it just appeared to have died from bleeding out.

It didn't take long for him to reach the entrance to the forest, where Anko was. As soon as he arrived, he got a raised eyebrow thrown at him by the dark purple-haired woman, who just heard what he had to say. The proctor's eyes widened as they filled with fear and desperation.

The assistant noticed this and became nervous and a bit concerned of the situation. "Should we order the exams to be cancelled?"

Anko just glared at him before raising his voice. "Do you think we can allow ourselves to show such a bad image? We cannot afford to lose our alliance with Suna because of someone infiltrating in the exams." She immediately thought of the possibility of it being Orochimaru, which only made her more nervous and desperate than before. "Take to the bodies, quickly."

They arrived at the spot quickly, which made Anko looked horrified at such a scene. She was sure that there was no Genin capable of doing such a thing to any other Genin. Anko ordered him to inform the rest of the assistant proctors as she herself would enter the forest in search for the legendary Sannin. Her assistant nodded before leaving for his partners as Anko started her search for the man who raised and trained her.

* * *

Gohan had stopped guiding the group due to Shikamaru's disagreement with it, which meant that Gohan wouldn't pay attention to the energies close to them. Ino and Chouji had a neutral position on the subject, so they didn't really care whether Gohan guided them or not. The main concern Gohan had was Ino's exhaustion, as it would probably affect their possibilities of achieving the next phase of the exam. The Nara wasn't worried at all, though, as he was ready for any possible attack, as well as he was ready to attack if they were to find another team on their way.

All that planning was thrown down at the moment a rain of kunai and shuriken appeared out of nowhere, causing Gohan to create an air blast to deflect the weapons that were about to hit his teammates, but getting several nailed on his own body. Shikamaru widened his eyes in desperation as he would never have predicted a strategy like that while being in a forest, which caused his mind not to think effectively of any other plan to counter attack from that. Gohan was probably unable to fight after receiving so many weapons on his arms and back.

Two figures quickly moved towards them, to which only Chouji was able to response, and it was by receiving the hits with his expanded hands. "Shikamaru, someone's coming from behind, do something!" The Nara looked behind them, locating a green shade making quick moves towards them. Ino was about to do her signature technique, but Shikamaru grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back, gesturing a familiar sign with his hands. A black shadow went out from his own, moving towards the green shade at a similar speed it moved towards the black shadow.


	11. Forest of Death. Part 4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second phase of the Chuunin exams comes to an end, giving place to the third and final phase. Yuichi, Daichi and Aoba finally arrive at Konoha after being successful in their mission, to take Han to the village.

Ino's blue eyes widened as the green shade jumped, avoiding Shikamaru's technique, revealing to be the black-haired boy with a green suit they had seen previously before the first phase of the Chuunin Exams. Shikamaru noticed this too, of course, to which he reacted by trying to throw a kunai at the boy, who avoided it while still being in the air. The blonde girl behind Shikamaru decided once more to act, but was interrupted once again by an injured Gohan, who jumped against the green suited boy, getting him to the floor after crashing in air.

Chouji's hand finally gave up due to the Hyuuga's gentle fist style, causing them to go back to their original size. The Hyuuga's white eyes showed confidence as he achieved to neutralize his opponent's technique, making the Akimichi to panic as both of his arms had gone numb. Chouji wouldn't just let him approach his teammates so easily, though, figuring that he could use his belly to block the hits, as it didn't have any direct connection with his chakra channels due to the big layer of fat covering them. As he proved this and worked, he thanked Iruka for giving him those lessons during his time in the academy. Neji, on the other hand, was shocked and annoyed by this, which he easily solved by hitting Chouji's jaw, knocking him out and moving on to the rest of the members of team 10.

Ino noticed the Akimichi's defeat, so she turned back and prepared her Mind Body Switch technique, which was quick enough to make the Hyuuga notice, but not giving him time to actually respond to it. As the Yamanaka got into Neji's mind, Gohan and Lee were already exchanging punches and kicks, demonstrating the expertise of both shinobi in taijutsu. Shikamaru watched as his teammates, one of them actually defeated and unconscious, were fighting for their permanence on the exams and actual survival; he looked down at the floor as he thought of how useless he was. However, he was thrown out of his thoughts by a kunai that almost hit his head, making him turn his head up to the trees, finding a brown-haired girl with a pink shirt standing on a branch and holding a scroll.

The Nara's eyes widened as weapons appeared from the scroll, which made him rush under the tree she was standing on, using that blind spot to avoid the attacks. Tenten ignored Shikamaru's movement and continued to attack the other members of the team, helping his own teammates on their respective battles. A kunai was thrown directly towards Gohan's neck, but the saiyan easily dodged it at the same time he dodged a kick from Lee. The taijutsu expert had already gained some respect for Gohan because of his great abilities in taijutsu, although this quickly turned into nervousness as his opponent's attacks started to get stronger and stronger. Finally, Lee was thrown away by the saiyan's kick, making him hit a tree that was behind him.

The Saiyan turned to face the tree of which the kunai had come for, finding that Shikamaru was right behind the girl that threw the kunai at him. Gohan decided to ignore the girl and went to aid Chouji, which confused the girl, although it didn't last much as the Nara jumped on her, throwing both of them down the tree. Ino had been kicked out from the Hyuuga's mind right before Shikamaru went behind the tree, which got her in a serious problem. Neji attacked nonstop as Ino struggled to block the attacks with her kunai, which also caused Neji to get his hands bruised. This bruises caused the Hyuuga's attacks to slow down, giving the blonde girl some more time to react, but in the end, it wasn't enough to give the girl an even remote chance of winning the battle.

"Gentle Fist style: Eight trigrams sixty four palms!" Neji yelled before palming several times all along the girl's body, blocking all of her chakra channels and leaving her unconscious in the process.

Suddenly, Neji lost the ability to move, causing him to turn to every direction and finding Shikamaru with the hand gestures proper of his signature jutsu, who had caught his shadow, and therefore, had caught him. Neji lowered his hands as he noticed that Gohan, who was in front of him still aiding Chouji, was glaring at him. Lee was back on his feet, but as he saw Neji defeated, his hopes dropped, although his determination remained. Lee quickly charged against Shikamaru, catching both the Nara and the saiyan by surprise. Shikamaru's shock turned into a expressionless face as he became unconscious due to receiving an air kick in the neck by Lee. Gohan adopted a defensive stance as Tenten stood up right behind him.

"You're surrounded, surrender." Neji yelled as he raised his arms to adopt his fighting stance once again.

A drop of sweat went down Gohan's forehead as he identified everyone's position, then disappearing for a mere second and reappearing right where he had disappeared, leaving all of them unable to fight with powerful but concentrated hits. The saiyan has just made an imitation of the gentle fist style, although more brute than the original style. Their shock was immeasurable, specially Neji's, as someone was able to defeat all three of them in less than a second. At first, they thought that he had to be at least Kage level, but then supposed that he couldn't be human. Gohan grabbed the sky scroll from Neji, as Tenten spoke up.

"Wait." She said with a desperate tone. "What about we team up to attack another team, so both of us get to the next phase? You're quite vulnerable either way."

Gohan turned to his teammates, who were all injured and tired and decided to accept the deal. "Alright, I get to help many people, so I'm in!" The saiyan's happy tone made Lee get even more interested than he already was, although it just made Neji lose interest.

"I will stay with your teammates while you go with mine and get the other scroll." Tenten explained as she sat down close to the tired and injured shinobi.

"Alright, just don't try anything bad, ok?" The brown-haired girl nodded in response, giving Gohan the signal to leave as he was followed by Lee and Neji.

_Ugh, I've got to do this fast... I don't really trust this guys._

Gohan thought as he moved towards a group of energies he had sensed from afar. _At least we can all win with this deal..._ When the saiyan arrived at this world and started to meet people, he never imagined that, being at such a young age, they would be tested to the point of killing other kids or their same age or shinobi from their same level. He couldn't deny that this world was worse in many aspects than his, which made him miss his own world even more. For as much as he wanted to change this cruel world, he doubted that someone like him, a kid, a foreigner, could change anything. But he then thought of Naruto, the rejected kid whose dream was to become a Hokage, the lonely kid that had lost his parents. Maybe, he could change the world.

* * *

Every step he made, the worse his condition got and the more blood he threw up. His desperation turned into anger and frustration as he arrived at the place he had told Kabuto to wait for him in and did not find him. Orochimaru quickly calmed down, figuring that he had to think of a way to get out of his complicated situation. He checked once more on every direction to make sure Kabuto hadn't arrived, confirming his thoughts, which made him lost his trust in who he saw as his most reliable servant.

The sound of branches being stepped on were enough to take the Sannin's attention, who ran to hide in the bushes, as he wasn't able to do much more due to his current physical state. His legs trembled too much as he was sitting down, his nerves had been severely damaged after his fight against the muscular kid that had purple clothes. Orochimaru watched through the bushes to the clearing he had been standing on just some seconds before, being able to see who the owner of the steps was. Anko, his old servant and apprentice, appeared to be searching for something, who the Sannin instantly supposed was him.

For now, he would avoid her, as he really wasn't sure of how much she could've progressed and if she was able to defeat him in his current state. Anko went failed to noticed his previous master's presence, which made the Sannin relieved. The purple-haired woman left the clearing after quickly checking the place, leaving as soon as she made sure nothing was off, as she needed to quickly find who once had been his master. At that same moment, Kabuto finally appeared in the area, going to his master's side, who gave him an annoyed look.

"What happened?" Kabuto said with a horrified expression in his eyes, as he never imagined his master to ever be beaten in a way like he seemed to have been beaten.

Orochimaru spit out some blood before speaking up, keeping his disappointed expression towards the gray-haired man. "It doesn't matter. I just have to recover, I need you to take me back to the hideout."

"But, sir, the entire mission could be in danger if I were to leave." Kabuto said, truly concerned to raise any suspicion toward him.

Orochimaru shook his head as his servant was still talking. "Then have someone else take me to the hideout, imbecile."

Kabuto nodded in response as he beckoned one of his teammates, another of Orochimaru's servants, to get closer. "You have to take Lord Orochimaru to the hideout, he needs to change his body." Kabuto said as his partner nodded. "You know what to do, right?" His teammate nodded once again, being followed by a nod from the silver-haired nin.

Orochimaru was taken by his servant, who seemed to really struggle at it, as Kabuto got back to his other teammate. The silver-haired nin made a signal with his hands, which was followed by his partner creating a clone of himself, a mud clone. Kabuto changed some things from the clone's appearance before leaving to finish the forest of death test.

* * *

After hours of dashing through forests and running through grasslands, Daichi and Aoba had finally brought Han, the jinchuriki of the five tails, to Konoha. The masked man was quite uneasy about being in a foreign hidden village, but he figured that he wouldn't be tortured or anything as such shinobi had escorted him to safety. For some reason, even though he even owned his life to the leader of the team, who had distracted the ones that wanted to take Han by the force, he wasn't able to trust them fully.

As they entered through the main gate of the village, they were received by the guards as well as the Hokage, who was quite happy to see them. The old man quickly noticed the absence of his assistant, and he surely thought it would be unfortunate to lose him, but he needed to continue with his project for the future of the shinobi world. The guards checked on Han, but Daichi prevented them from taking any weapon he had, as he felt that he could feel safer with them and could help them earning his trust. Aoba just gave a sad look at his old glasses, which were now absolutely destroyed.

"Daichi, I'd like to invite you to the funeral of my dear glasses." Aoba said with an honest sad tone, but the Uchiha just thought of this as an incredibly stupid thing to do.

"Whatever." He said, trying to keep his serious tone and not wanting to hurt Aoba's feelings.

The Hokage got closer to the group, beckoning Han to wait for him as he went to speak to his men. "Good job, young ones, you have proved once again that you're the elite of the village." Hiruzen said as he had a satisfying smile on his face. "Now, you'll have to go back for Yuichi's body, you know we can't just let the enemy have access to the information he possesses."

Daichi's serious and calm expression quickly turned into one of confusion, hiding his anger at the Hokage's distrust at his personal guard. "You don't really think he was killed, right?" Aoba said as he spoke before the Uchiha did.

"You tell me." The old man plainly replied. "I wasn't there to see what caused Yuichi to separate from you."

"Sir, I don't think Yuichi has died, and therefore, I don't think there is need for the search of his body." One of the three last Uchiha alive, Daichi, said.

"I understand that perfectly, but you'll still have to go back to search for him." Hiruzen calmly insisted. "Either for his body or to help him survive." He continued. "It would definitely be one of the worst losses we could have."

"With all respect, sir, there will be no need." Yuichi had finally arrived, some minutes after his teammates, of course, but his great speed had helped him with the long distance. The Senju seemed to be quite tired, and his iconic blue cape was ragged and burnt because of the explosions, his face had some injuries and had other injuries in his legs and arms.

"I couldn't expect less from Tobirama's grandson." Hiruzen said with one of his typical smiles on his face. "Alright, then, you two rest and Yuichi, you should go to the hospital to get checked, just in case." All three Jounin nodded as the Hokage turned back and beckoned Han to follow him. The two of them walked all the way through the village toward the Hokage tower, which was just in front of Mount Hokage, which captivated Han.

After some minutes of walking, they arrived at the office of the Hokage, where Hiruzen sat down in his normal seat. He beckoned the jinchuriki to take a seat too, getting a nod from the man as he sat in a chair in front of the old man's desk. Sarutobi was quite interested in the man sitting in front of him, mainly because of the mysterious aura he had due to him always having his hat and face mask.

"So, you have to be wondering why we brought you here." Han nodded in response to this before the Third continued talking. "Well, we've been informed that there is an organization that wants to capture all of the nine tailed-beasts, meaning that they'll kill the nine jinchuriki. Although I'm pretty sure you're already aware of that." Han nodded once again. "Decades ago, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, gave each hidden village one tailed-beast in a naive try to achieve peace in our world, but as we all know, he just caused more war." As he said the name of the First, Hiruzen pointed to the picture of him that was right behind him. "Tobirama Senju, his brother and Second Hokage, fought to fix all the mistakes his brother had caused, but he unfortunately died in battle without achieving this. After him, I had other issues that threatened the security of my people, so I didn't put much attention to the jinchuriki problematic, and so did the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, in his short term." The Third Hokage turned to his side and opened one of the archives that were behind his desk, taking some documents out of it. "Recently, we received a report about this organization and it's objective of reuniting the nine tailed-beasts, which would clearly mean a threat to the entire shinobi world."

"So you want to take the nine jinchuriki back in Konoha?" Han asked, trying to finish the old man's speech.

"Basically, yes." Hiruzen nodded as he confirmed the guess to the five tails jinchuriki. "We just want to avoid a threat that could not only affect us, but the entire world."

"Then why not just inform the other villages and tell them to protect their respective tailed-beasts?" Han asked.

"Unfortunately, we simply don't know much about this organization. Meaning that we can't be sure if a village is related to it or is directly part of it." Hiruzen explained, getting a nod as response.

"What is your plan, then?" Han asked as he crossed his arms.

"We intend to reunite the jinchuriki here, and introduce them to our society." Hiruzen said as his political side started to appear. "They can choose to cooperate militarily with us or not, that isn't an issue, the main objective is to make sure the tailed-beasts are out of reach of the organization."

Han scratched his chin for a moment, remembering the men with the black hoods that had tried to kidnap him. "I accept your offer."

"Perfect." Sarutobi said as he shook hands with the jinchuriki. "Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

* * *

After two long days of continuous battle and death, the second phase of the Chuunin Exams had concluded, with the last team to achieve it being Kakashi's. Surprisingly, just one of the rookie teams wasn't able to succeed in the test, as they were brutally murdered during in the Forest of Death. The Genin teams that survived were now waiting for the Hokage to announce the third and final phase of the exams, as they stood in front of a type of platform that had the statue of two hands similar to the position of a jutsu behind it, surrounded by the Jounin that were in charge of every single one of the teams. In the platform, Iruka stood firmly, waiting for the Third to arrive.


	12. Chunin Exams: Preliminaries. Part 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The preliminary matches of the Chunin Exams start!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The forest of Death is over! And on we go to the preliminaries...  
> Anyway, I hope you like it and remember to leave any feedback, opinion or support in the comments! Enjoy!

The Genin that had succeeded to get both the sky and earth scrolls had been able to enter the tower that was located inside the Forest of Death. In there, the Hokage and respective Jounin of each team, all of them gathering inside the tower, where an arena was located. The arena had the peculiarity of having two platforms at separate sides of the arena, as well as a giant statue of two hands gesturing a jutsu. In front of this statue, the Third Hokage stood as in front of him the successful Genin also stood, giving him a respectful look, even the ones that came from foreign villages. At the side of the gathered Genin, each of the Jounin of the teams that had succeeded stood, with an even more serious look than the one their students possessed.

For the first time in years, maybe decades or maybe ever, the rookie teams got to reach the third phase of the exams after the bloody and harsh Forest of Death. Although even in spite of this, one of the five Genin teams participating, died at the hands of unknown shinobi. The remaining rookie teams knew they hadn't succeeded as they were nowhere to be seen, yet they remained ignorant about their deaths. Sasuke, who had just recovered two hours before arriving at the tower, was rubbing the back of his neck, as pain annoyed him.

After the fight against Orochimaru, Sakura had checked the Uchiha while Naruto covered them as they were still in the middle of the forest. At that moment, the pink-haired girl noticed a bite in his neck, and next to it, a seal-like black mark, which concerned the girl. She decided not to tell her blonde teammate, fearing that he could get concerned and get distracted from his current objective of covering her while she checked Sasuke. Sakura has told Sasuke about the mysterious mark, although he didn't seem to care much about it. Naruto, totally ignorant about the weird mark the Uchiha has in his neck, watched him curiously, raising one of his eyebrows in the process. On the other hand, Haruno had mentioned to the Uchiha about the mark, as it was really inevitable for him to notice, although even she didn't had a mere idea of what the seal's properties were.

The Hokage stood down in the arena, his silver-haired assistant on his right side, with his crossed hands hanging in his lower back, looking at the successful Genin. His assistant had part of his face covered with bandages, as well as his left arm, which was covered almost entirely. His legs struggled more than they normally did to hold his weight, as the effort he had realized just the day before to arrive at the village as soon as possible had just gotten all of him. The Jounin, who were standing firmly in the platforms that where the public was going to see the battles from. To his left side, a sick looking Jounin, already familiar for Team 10, was standing as firmly as he could, although he still had his typical sick-looking face.

"Congratulations, young Genin, you have achieved what very little shinobi of your level do, making you already exceptional for making it up to this phase." Sarutobi kept his typical calm tone as he spoke. "Unfortunately, due to there being more of you than there should be, we'll have to make some preliminary matches to reduce the number of participants. Hayate Gekko will explain the rules in detail." The Third beckoned the Jounin to step forward and continue with the explanation, which he did without hesitation.

Something got Gohan during the speech, and it was the use of certain word. _More of you than there should be..._ Gohan's teeth clenched as he remembered the way the leader of the village talked about the dead of kids as if it was nothing. Gohan already knew that the world he was currently at needed reforms, and quick, but he never imagined that a beloved leader like the Hokage would be able to talk about such things as if it was nothing and yet still be as loved and respected as he was.

"Alright," Hayate coughed a couple of times before starting. "Whoever wins the battle qualifies for the next and final phase of the Chunin Exams." He coughed once more before continuing. "This matches will be 1v1 battles in which things such as injuring badly and killing are allowed." Gohan clenched his teeth once more, now making his teammates notice his fury. "And that's for the rules, we'll now proceed to the matches themselves." Hayate pointed at a screen that was at the left side of the statue, where several names started to pop up.

The first two names that appeared in the screen were Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado. "The two named Genin, please stay in the arena, the rest of you, please go to the platforms alongside your teachers." Sasuke was pretty confident of himself, as usual, but his opponent also seemed to have a lot of self confidence. The rest of the Genin left for their respective places in the platforms alongside their Genin, being the shinobi of the Leaf on one side, and the ones from the Sand and the Sound on the opposite platform.

Kakashi received his students with a smile, although they were only able to tell thanks to his only visible eye, as well as an innocent and seemingly calm wave. Naruto replied with another wave, making Sakura do the same. Meanwhile, Asuma just received his own students with a nod, as he was getting his cigarette ready. Might Guy, probably the one who got the most attention, congratulated his students and began to cry along with Lee, as both were proud of themselves and the rest of the team. Kurenai congratulated her students to, but in a colder way than Guy did. Genma received his students with a cold and serious expression, making his students uneasy, but finally gave up to his laugh, congratulating his students, Team 5, for their splendid performance to have reached that point.

Hayate positioned himself in the center of the arena as Yuichi and the Hokage left the place, surprising Gohan as he expected the old man to watch the matches. "I'll be the referee." The lizard expert announced as he beckoned the Genin two get ready, and as soon as they were in their respective fighting stances, he raised his voice once again. "Go!"

The Uchiha quickly threw a kunai he had already grabbed from his pocket, getting some time as his opponent had to move the upper part of his body to save his body. Sasuke gave the man a low kick on his feet, causing him to fall down, making him fall above the Uchiha, with his hands pointing to him. His black eyes quickly turned to an intense red as he saw that his opponent's hands covered in chakra. He got his hands in the floor and quickly lifted his entire body, successfully dodging the chakra-covered hands of his opponent, taking advantage of his positions and aiming a kick to Yoroi's face as he tried to stand up, being dodged by him and quickly counter attacked. Thanks to his Sharingan, he was able to jump back as soon as he saw a kunai aiming at his ribs.

Red eyes now looked right at him, causing him to inevitably feel intimidated, although he still went closer to proceed with his plan. The Sharingan remained an advantage for Sasuke, as he once again was able to dodge without much effort the attempts of Yoroi of engaging a close range battle. On the other hand, Sasuke insisted in pressuring him from long distance, throwing kunai and groups of shuriken at the other shinobi, hoping for one to hit him, although it would just be a plus to his main objective: earn some extra time to see if he was able to burn his energies down.

Kakashi had been concentrated in his pupil's fight from the start, and he was surprised of his abilities to keep the enemy away, he truly made his teacher quite proud. On the other hand, Naruto was already starting to get desperate at the lack of offensive movement from his friend, which even Sakura identified as an effective strategy. "Come on, Sasuke! Do something!" The blonde desperately yelled at his teammate, who struggled not to get distracted from the screams. Kakashi turned to look at his other two pupils, witnessing as Sakura hit Naruto in the of his head, finally shutting him up.

Yoroi continued his efforts on engaging short range combat, although this time, he was able to hit his opponent's abdomen as he had late reaction due to the screams of his teammate. Sasuke was hit as he was still in the air, which sent him away and made him receive more damage due to the fall. He stood up without many problems, but if it wasn't enough, his neck's mark started to give him a stinging pain, which caused him to fall on his knee. Yoroi took the opportunity and ,without hesitation, jumped on his opponent, getting one of his hands on the neck of the Uchiha, and the other one on his face, blocking his sight. The man's hands were once again covered with chakra as Sasuke felt his energy being drained at an alarming pace.

Sakura glared at the blonde kid, to which he responded with a nervous smile, then turning to true fear as the green eyes of his friend filled with fury. Naruto turned to his master, who just shrugged at him before turning back to the battle. The pink-haired girl gave Naruto such a strong hit in his forehead, that the sound of it called even Gaara's attention.

The Uchiha was desperately trying to get the hands off of him, but he just wasn't strong enough to do it, his desperation increasing as time went by, his strength reducing and his body starting to give up. The black mark of his neck, which had been hurting Sasuke more and more as Yoroi kept absorbing his energy, suddenly spread through his body, leaving half of it covered with black spots in his skin. His grip suddenly got stronger, actually so strong that he broke his enemy's wrist, getting rid of the hands that was grabbing his neck and now being able to focus on just one hand.

Kakashi noticed this and instantly figured out what was happening, as he had heard about Anko's story before, turning to his students to see if there was any interesting reaction. As Ino's cheers for Sasuke were heard in the background, Sakura had a concerned expression, even though the copy-nin knew that she should be cheering the Uchiha up just as her rival was doing. Although those two weren't the only ones concerned about the situation, as Gohan felt an evil energy take over the Uchiha's, joining Sakura and the Jounin from the Leaf. Naruto was absolutely clueless of what was happening, turning to Sakura, too, becoming afraid as soon as he noticed the expression the pink-haired girl had.

As this happened, Sasuke had already the man's other wrist, making him unable to fight. Yoroi was know practically unable to realize any jutsu, as well as being menaced by the red-eyed's maniac expression glaring directly at his soul. He tried to stand up, but the Uchiha increased his speed and gave him a direct kick in the chest that caused him to lose his respiration for a while. Then, the young avenger got a kunai and threw it to his opponent, nailing it directly in his forehead, and therefore, killing him. Ino's cheers stopped as silence and concerned and horrified expressions filled the room. Kakashi disappeared and reappeared at Sasuke's side.

The lizard expert checked on the man's pulse, confirming his dead to Kakashi by shaking his head. "Yoroi Akudo is dead, which leaves Sasuke Uchiha as the winner of the battle." Naruto's face was now filled by utter horror as he had seen his friend commit such an atrocity. Sasuke collapsed down to the floor as the effects of the seal passed, being raised by Kakashi, disappearing right after having the Uchiha in his arms.

* * *

Kakashi had taken his pupil to a dark room that was within the tower, a secret room used for sealing practices as well as actual important seals, just as the seal for the jinchuriki. Inside the room, a circular seal-like symbol decorated the floor, in which the silver-haired Jounin left the now unconscious Sasuke. The copy-nin made some gestures with his hand before getting his right hand and pressing it against the mark the boy had in his neck. Some steam went out of the mark as the seal started to make effect, this caused Sasuke to suddenly wake up and start screaming. Kakashi used his other arm to keep the pressure going against the mark until the seal was done.

As another mark appeared around the original one, steam stopped coming out of the mark, although the pain caused from before had caused the Uchiha to fell unconscious once more. Kakashi stood up as he gave his pupil a look, sighing as he felt a bit bad of having caused so much damage to him. Although as he was about to take him to leave him in the nursery, he felt the sudden appearance of someone. He turned without hesitation, ready to fight, but he lost his composure as soon as he noticed the man's face, his visible eye as widened as it could be.

"You've grown a lot, Kakashi." Orochimaru said with a creepy tone, smiling maniacally as he noticed the legs of the copy-nin, which were trembling.

Kakashi made several hand gestures and got his hands in a position every shinobi that knew about the copy-nin could recognize. Orochimaru laughed maniacally as sparks covered the silver-haired Jounin's hand, which only made him even more scared than he already was. "Get away or die, I won't even hesitate to do it and I don't care if you're a Sannin or not."

"Come on, Kakashi, you know there is no way you can defeat me." Orochimaru answered with an arrogant tone in his voice, a confident smile decorating his face. "There's no need to be so violent, I just wanted to check on my Sasuke."

" _Your_ Sasuke?" The silver-haired ninja got ready to attack the Sannin at any moment, although the snake-like man had already noticed it.

Orochimaru laughed confidently at the question. "You know he'll come to me for power." He said before turning around towards the exit of the room, disappearing as soon as Kakashi was about to nail his Raikiri in the Sannin's chest.

The Jounin ignored this and took Sasuke to the nursery, where he ordered for ANBU guards to take care of him, which was granted to him.

* * *

Kabuto turned to his side, noticing that Misumi, his other teammate, was back at the arena, meaning that the plan had been successful. Misumi noticed the absence of Yoroi, and as Kabuto shook his head, he figured what had happened to him. Kabuto decided to surrender in his match, his job was done for now. Suddenly, a Jounin from the Sound appeared behind him, nodding at them as a way of greeting them.

Kakashi suddenly appeared behind his pupils as the names of the chosen Genin for the next match. "Shiho Hisajima and Kabuto Yakushi, please come down here to go ahead with the next battle." Hayate announced as both Genin went down to the arena, quickly getting in the same spots where Sasuke and Yoroi had been standing just some minutes ago.

Naruto was quite curious of what Kabuto was really able to do, as well as Gohan was about Shiho, although this last one was clearly scared about fighting after seeing what had happened to Yoroi. Her glasses trembled as Hayate bent over to give the signal. The half-saiyan joined Shiho's team in the cheers for Shiho , catching her by surprise, just as the same time as Naruto started to support Kabuto. Both turned to look at each other, deciding just with their looks that they would compete to see which one of the two would win.

"Go!" Hayate announced, causing Shiho to jump back and get her hands on the pockets hanging in each side of her shorts.

"I surrender." Kabuto coldly said with his right hand raised, nodding at Hayate as he received a confused look from the lizard expert. "It's just too much for me."

Hayate raised one of his eyebrows, then sighing in disappointment before standing straight once again. "Then... the winner of this match is Shiho Hisajima... I guess?" Naruto fell back out of disappointment as Gohan's jaw dropped down to the floor. Kabuto left the arena indifferently before waving Hayate out, which only made the lizard expert more confused as this was supposed to actually try. Shiho, still with her hands in her pockets, let out a sigh of relief. 

As Shiho went back next to her teammates, the screen started to choose two new names, showing who would participate in the third match of the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams. "Kankuro of the Sand and Shino Aburame." Hayate announced. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiho doesn't really have a surname, so I had to look up one for her, so don't mind that detail.


	13. Chunin Exams: Preliminaries. Part 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The preliminary matches for the third phase of the Chunin Exams continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So here's the second part of the Chunin Exams!
> 
> Enjoy it and remember to leave any opinion, feedback and/or support in the comments! That said, on we go!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own neither DB nor Naruto, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).

"Oh, you're facing a foreign one..." Kiba said, turning to his teammate as he spoke, being ignored by him as the bug expert just turned in the opposite direction and started to walk towards the stairs of the platform they were in. "That is... quite rude..." Kiba cringed at his teammate's response before turning to look at the arena.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" A worried Hinata asked as she put her hands together in her chest while looking down at the arena, where her teammate was already facing who would be his opponent.

"I'm sure he will beat that guy easily." Kiba said with a sure tone, transmitting the feeling to his friend, who nodded in agreement.

Shino's cold stare was blocked by his black glasses. His opponent adopted his fighting stance as Hayate got ready to give the starting signal for the pair of Genin. The bug expert got his hands in the pockets of his gray jacket as he kept half of his head hidden behind his jacket. He analyzed the black clothes that covered his opponent's body, which helped him finish his plan.

"Go!" Hayate yelled, hoping that none of them would surrender.

Kankuro immediately went for his opponent, pressuring his opponent with punches and kick, all being dodged by the bug expert. Shino glared disappointedly at his opponent, who already had the Aburame's parasites inside his body. Kankuro continued his attack until he suddenly stopped moving. The covered object in his back dropped to the floor, causing him to start moving again, throwing several Kunai at the Aburame, taking advantage of his distraction. One actually hit him, in the right arm, although insects were quick to take it out and seal the injury.

"Surrender." Shino said after getting back to his straight stance, being followed by the noise of a crack, which surprised even himself. "I see... So it was a puppet..." The Aburame calmly walked to the side of object his opponent was holding in his back. "You are hiding in there, aren't you?"

A hand with a blade quickly escaped the bandages that covered it, aiming at the Aburame's legs, failing and working as a bridge for the stream of bugs that went out of Shino's sleeve. The screams of Kankuro were heard from inside the bandages, which made Hayate stop the fight and give Shino the win. Hayate summoned a normal-sized ninja lizard, who used a little blade to tear the bandages, revealing the almost bug-covered body of the puppeteer. The lizard used his saliva to kill some of the bugs, giving Kankuro the opportunity of surviving.

"What a useless piece of shit." Gaara said with an angry tone, turning his stare away from the arena. Temari looked at her little brother with fear, turning into relieve as she saw her other brother be saved by the Jounin of the Leaf.

"You're welcome, young one." The little lizard said, receiving a nod in response. The lizard nodded back before disappearing into smoke, leaving Hayate for himself once again.

Kankuro now had to go back and face his little brother, having chills just from imagining his hateful glare. He was received by a palm in the back from his master, the ninja Hayate had faced against during that mission in Suna, although the lizard expert still hadn't noticed his presence. Temari hugged him as she had been horrified at the thought of losing him, although she quickly stopped hugging him and just gave him a slight hit in the head. Kankuro laughed nervously, trying to relieve his fear for Gaara's reaction. The puppeteer was relieved to see that the redhead ignored his presence. _Alive another day, huh? Not bad._ Kankuro thought to himself.

The screen started to show several random letter, progressively forming an understandable word and stopping at another pair of names. "Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno." Hayate announced.

Sakura's eyes widened in astonishment while Ino, although surprised, was kind of excited to see how much her friend had improved. Naruto noticed the pink-haired girl's nervousness, to which he responded by placing one of his hands on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Sakura! I know you can do it!" Her green eyes were filled with determination by Naruto's thumbs up and typical wide smile. She nodded in response before walking towards the stairs.

"This win is yours!" Gohan cheered as Ino nodded back at him in reassurance. "We trust in you!" Shikamaru and Chouji nodded in confirmation, giving Ino even more motivation to wipe the floor with her once best friend.

She walked towards the stairs, finding the pink-haired girl in the way. The blonde-haired girl had noticed that her friend now had shorter hair, which made her curious, remembering how she decided to leave it long due to the rumors of Sasuke preferring girls with long hair. She gave her a quick glance before raising her voice.

"Why did you cut your hair?" She caught the pink-haired girl by surprise. "I thought Sasuke liked girls with long hair."

"That was just a rumor, I can't live based in rumors." Sakura replied, giving the blonde girl a smile.

Ino was surprised to witness the change her friend had also experienced psychologically. "Well, I guess that makes sense..." She said, turning her gaze to the referee, who was getting closer as they spoke. "I think I like my long hair, though."

"Yeah, it seems so." Sakura said as stopped for a moment. "Let's have a great battle, okay?" She extended her hand to her friend.

"Right." As Ino shook the pink-haired girl's hand, she noticed that it was sweaty, she glanced at the girl's face, her right eyebrow raised, finding a seemingly calm and honest smile. She imagined that her rival was just nervous, ignoring it and smiling back.

Gohan's and Naruto's cheers filled the arena as a silent Rock Lee hoped for Sakura to come out as the winner. Chouji joined the cheers as he finished his bag of chips, causing Shikamaru to stand next to his teammates, although not cheering Ino up. Asuma smiled at this, laying in the wall as he smoked a cigarette. Kakashi just admired how Naruto still cheered his friend despite everyone else rooting for or just saying Ino would win, showing his confidence and trust in the pink-haired kunoichi. He smiled under his mask as he turned to Lee, who seemed quite concerned despite being silent.

The two kunoichi adopted their respective, being Sakura's a defensive one and Ino's one Sakura knew quite well. "Go!" Hayate yelled, marking the start of the match.

The blonde girl started to quickly makes gestures with her hands, alerting Sakura of what was coming. She then placed her hands together in front of her, creating a circle-like space between her hands and pointing it to her opponent. The pink-haired kunoichi had already ran away, which forced Ino to move her hands to try and effectuate her jutsu, failing to as Sakura started to approach her with a kunai in her hand. The blonde kunoichi waited for the pink-haired one, a kunai of herself in her hand, which she used to block the attack of her opponent.

Sparks started to ignite from the kunai's as each clash was stronger than the last one. Ino jumped back and threw her kunai towards the pink-haired kunoichi, it getting deflected, winning time to perform her jutsu once again. This time, Ino was successful in her plan, getting into Sakura's mind and gaining control over her body, although her own body fell down to the floor in consequence of her jutsu. As soon as she gained control over the pink-haired kunoichi's body, the screaming voice of inner-Sakura was heard, disabling Ino's capacity of concentrating, which caused her to quickly lose control and be expelled from the pink-haired's mind.

"Nice try, Ino." Sakura said as she regained composure, her rival struggling to stand up as she was dizzy after the screams of inner-Sakura.

Ino clenched her teeth in frustration as her plan had failed at the first try, she never really expected her rival to have such a strong mind. Although the pink-haired kunoichi was quick to make a mistake, it being to let Ino regain composure. The blonde girl threw a handful of shuriken at Sakura, which the girl tried to dodge, failing to and deflecting one that aimed at her arm by the last second. As soon as Sakura put attention to her surroundings, Ino was already next to her, aiming a punch at her ribs and successfully nailing it. Sakura noticed that the punch wasn't as strong as it should've been, yet still kneeling down while covering her ribs because of the pain, being right there and then when she noticed Ino's strong respiration.

Gohan was the first one to notice the consequences of Ino's exhaustion from there training before the exams, as he felt the sudden fall of her Ki. "She's tired." Gohan said, getting shocked expressions from Shikamaru and Chouji as they were both surprised about Gohan's ability to notice that at such a long distance and about Ino being tired.

"Come on, Ino!" Shikamaru yelled as Sakura stood up once again. "End this now!" Asuma would normally smile at the Nara's unusual care, but he was also concerned for Ino's battle.

Naruto obviously noticed this, analyzing the blonde kunoichi as a result, noticing that she seemed to be quite tired due to her sweat and strong breathing. "She's tired." Lee pointed out as he looked at Naruto, receiving a nod from the blonde Genin.

"SAKURA! THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO WIN! COME ON!" Both Lee and Naruto yelled, motivating their friend to win the battle. Kakashi and Guy looked at each other with curious expressions.

"I see you're tired, I guess I do have a chance now." Sakura said, grabbing a kunai and dashing towards Ino before she could answer to her comment. The blade of the kunai brushed the blonde girl's arm, managing to make a little cut in it.

Ino had jumped to one side, dodging the pink-haired kunoichi's quick attack, with their last energy reserves. The blonde kunoichi threw a kunai at Sakura before she landed, causing her to fall in order to avoid it. Ino rushed to her rival, who was laying face down, sitting on her back and grabbing her wrists, disabling any attack possibilities. Sakura tried to resist her rival's grip, but she was finally defeated by a hit with the heel in the ribs from Ino.

"Release her to see if she can do something." Hayate said, to which Ino obeyed. Sakura did not move as the pain in her ribs was just too much to deal with. "Then I guess you're the winner." Hayate told the blonde girl, standing up straight and getting ready to announce the winner. Naruto and Lee watched with a disappointed expression as the pink-haired kunoichi wasn't able to stand up, which actually caused the cheers from team 10 and even Asuma, who had spent the entire match hiding his nerves behind his cigarette. "The winner is Ino Yamanaka!"

Ino fell down to the floor out of exhaustion, with a relieved smile in her face as Kakashi and Asuma appeared from a cloud of smoke to take their respective students. Team 10 continued to cheer.

"Want me to take you to the nursery?" Asuma asked as he kept smoking. Receiving a negative response from his student. "Alright then, but try to at least sit down while watching the rest of the matches.

On the other side, Kakashi had taken Sakura to the nursery without even asking, as he knew that she had to at least have some broken ribs after receiving those two hits in there.

"I want to see Naruto's fight." Her green eyes were filled with determination as she said this. That determination, that reminded to Rin's gaze, made him unable to deny her the right to watch her friend fight. He finally nodded in response before disappearing and appearing next to Naruto, who got scared.

"Thanks for supporting me." Sakura said as she sat down next to Naruto, who gave her a thumbs up and a wide smile. Lee cringed as he was ignored by the green-eyed girl, widening his eyes as she finally acknowledge him. "You too." He was satisfied even though she had been warmer with Naruto.

The screen had already showed the names of the next two contenders. "Tenten and Temari of the Sand." Hayate announced.

Both of the kunoichi, each one in opposite sides of the arena, started walking to the arena. They were really similar to one another, them being sure of themselves and actually quite talented for fighting, each having their own specialties, of course. Rock Lee cheered Tenten while Kankuro did the same for his sister, having Neji and Gaara apart, as they remained silent and uninterested about the match. Guy was also joining the cheers for Tenten, as he knew that if he wanted to keep his students motivated, he needed to cheer them up in important moments for them like this precise one.

The two kunoichi faced each other, Temari with a self-confident expression and Tenten a simply serious one, which showed who cared more about the match. As Hayate announced the beginning of the fight, Temari just got her giant fan to her side, which Tenten didn't take long to recognize as she was a weapon expert. Tenten didn't take long to try her first movement. She jumped up high as she summoned several weapons of all sorts, throwing them directly at the dark-blonde kunoichi.

A grin appeared in the Sand kunoichi's face as she opened one third of her giant folding fan and deflected all the weapons towards the place she had thought her opponent had landed, finding no one but explosive tags in the floor, which caused a chain of explosions as the weapons hit them after falling down. Temari had no problem avoiding the explosions, but the dark and thick smoke still supposed a problem for her, using her fan to get rid of said smoke. Suddenly, Tenten jumped out of the smoke, a chained scythe on her hand, and attacked Temari.

The Sand kunoichi was barely able to dodge her opponent's surprise attack, obviously not being able to use her fan quickly enough to push the brown-haired back. Tenten's scythe was still able to reach and cut some of Temari's hair, snapping her out of her over confidence. As her teeth clenched, her fan opened completely, showing her wish to finish the fight quickly. With force unusual for someone of her age, she raised her giant fan and agitated it several times, creating a wind blast aimed to catch the kunoichi from the Leaf.

"You're mine!" Temari yelled with an angry tone as the burst of wind caught Tenten in midair. Her grin suddenly distorted into a shocked face as several explosive tags exploded at both sides of her.

Unfortunately for Tenten, the explosions failed to fully reach the Sand kunoichi, although they still caused some minor burns in her legs and arms. Meanwhile, the gust was still causing several cuts to Tenten, who, after some minuted caught up inside the gust, finally fall down. Rock Lee's cheers had been silenced after her teammate had been caught up in the gust, but he was now totally worried for his friend. As Hayate announced Temari's victory, the Sand kunoichi laughed at how easy, according to her, it had been to defeat her.

"If you are this village's future, then it is doomed." a burst of laughter followed this phrase, although it stopped as soon as Lee entered with great speed at the arena, grabbing his teammate.

"That's how you treat a opponent that fought honorarily against you?" Lee asked with a annoyed tone in his voice. "Even after such a worthy fight..."

"Ha!" Temari gave the Genin a grin. "You call that worthy?" she pointed at the now unconscious and bloody body of the brown-haired kunoichi. "She was just unable to win from the very beginning, even if she did catch me by surprise once or twice."

Lee did not responded to the kunoichi of the Sand, and took his teammate to his master, who took her to the nursery. As this happened, the screen showed the names of the next to contenders.

"Hinata Hyuga and Neji Hyuga." Hayate announced, causing Hinata to widen her eyes in horror.

Everyone that knew both Hyugas were perfectly conscious of what the outcome of the fight would be. Hinata started to tremble out of fear, even shaking her head trying to deny the truth. Kiba gave palmed her in the back and gave her a smile.

"Don't worry, I know you can win." Kiba said with a calm voice, failing to calm the little girl down.

"You have to go now, they're waiting for you." Kurenai said with a cold voice. "You'll find a way to deal with him, but for now, go down there."

The shy girl obeyed with no hesitation, now finding herself facing Neji, who stared at her with angry eyes. Her horrified face gave Neji even more confidence than he already had. Naruto decided to cheer for the shy girl, remembering a little experience they shared when they were little kids. Gohan, who had felt the energies of both shinobi, just hoped for the girl to go out of it safe and sound.

"Go!" Hayate announced.

"Let's go, Hinata!" Naruto yelled from the platform, acting as an impulse for Hinata, who suddenly gained the motivation to fight her cousin.

Both Hyuga were quick to activate their Byakugans, getting their palms ready for the battle. Neji obviously took the initiative and started a bombing of attacks, causing Hinata to be committed to defense from the very first second. For as much as the shy girl wanted to be able to give a decent challenge to her cousin and impress Naruto, she was just unable too, the overwhelming strength, speed and technique of the genius was just too much for her. Her lack of resistance finally paid off as one of Neji's hits finally reached the point it was aimed to, it being unfortunately Hinata's right shoulder.

"Now." Neji said to himself, aiming another hit at the opposite shoulder, achieving his objective.

Now without any usable arms, being both of hers numb by Neji's hits, every hit the genius aimed at her would hit her without any problem. Naruto's cheers stopped, which made the Hyuga girl lose part of her motivation. She was hopeless now, vulnerable to the incredible power of her cousin. Gohan could just look away as one of Neji's palm hit they Hyuga right in the chest, no fear of killing her in his intentions. Hinata fell down, unconscious, as Kiba's yells filled a mostly silent arena.

"The winner is Neji Hyuga." Hayate announced, glancing at Neji in a try of searching any trait of regret.

Guy shook his head in disappointed as Neji went back to his teammates, he always expected the best from his students. Kiba had ran to take Hinata to the nursery, but Kurenai interrupted him and took her herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter! I hope you liked it!
> 
> See you soon with the next chapter.


	14. Chunin Exams: Preliminaries. Part 3.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The preliminary matches continue, getting closer to their end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's a new chapter!
> 
> I actually ended up struggling with making two chapters in a week, but well, I guess I at least had something to do. Anyways, I hope you enjoy today's chapter and on we go!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor do I own Naruto, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto).

Neji had noticed the disappointment from his teacher, but he wasn't able to care less, seeing him as a loser even despite the fact that he was a Jounin. On his back, a furious Nobuyuki was staring at him, and even though the genius knew it, he ignored him. Yakumo grabbed her teammate by the shoulder, snapping him out of his anger. The genjutsu prodigy shook her head gesturing her disapproval of what he was doing, which got her a nod as a response. The half-Hyuga turned back to the arena, where Hayate was already announcing the next contenders. Now it was him who put his hand in her teammate's shoulder as her name was called.

"Yakumo Kurama and Rock Lee." Hayate called, making Lee celebrate the arrival of his turn in the matches.

The taijutsu expert jumped directly from the platform, landing in the arena and waving at Hayate, who just raised his eyebrow in response. Yakumo was way calmer than Lee, as she just went down through the stairs, keeping a slow pace as she was a bit nervous. Guy, just as with the rest of his students, was hiding the wish to cheer for them, as it had been ordered for them to be as neutral as they could be. Genma was feeling the exact same way, as he had just wanted to cheer for Shiho, he really hated this type of orders, but it was his duty as shinobi from the Leaf to obey any orders from the Hokage.

"Wouldn't it be amazing if Yakumo also went through the next phase?" Genma said as a smile decorated his face, gathering the attention of his students, who nodded back at him in response.

"It would." Shiho said as she turned back at the arena, where her teammate was already facing the one who would be her opponent. _I'm guessing she won't let him make a single move without getting him, but we'll see..._

Hayate checked both Genin with his eyes before making sure everything was fine. "Go!" Hayate yelled, taking some space between him and the Genin.

 _Alright... alright... remember Hishiro..._ Yakumo thought, trying to calm down, before making very gestures with her hand very quickly, which had apparently no effect on Lee, who just continued to get closer.

As soon as the kick met the kunoichi's head, her face turned to one of an ugly bat monster, scaring Lee and causing him to fail his kick, hitting the floor as he wasn't able to react before falling. Lee turned his head while he still was on the floor, checking on the monster he had just seen, figuring that it was just the same girl from before staring directly at him with a seemingly confused face. Lee stood up, thinking he had just hallucinated, finding that the monster was hiding behind the girl, giving him a wide and horrifying smile.

Guy raised one of his eyebrows as he saw the horror Lee had seemed to be in, but yet not being able to see what caused him such fear. Neji could only shake his head in utter disappointment for his teammate.

"Could it be a genjutsu?" Guy asked to himself.

Gohan noticed a sudden downgrade in the girl's energy as a demonic version of herself, which probably had been scaring Lee, materialized. Guy's student was quick to attack the thing out of fear, combining his powerful kicks and blows with his screams. However, the demonic version of the girl seemed to be strong enough to resist the taijutsu expert's blows. This gave Yakumo some confidence that she would normally lack at such important moments, deciding to prepare another genjutsu to support the one he had already created, noticing that her chakra reserves were already low.

Her hands made several gestures once again, not even being noticed by the horrified Lee, who was fighting with almost his full force against the demonic version of the girl. As time passed and the demon-like creature kept receiving blows from the erratic Genin, the creature was starting to go weaker and weaker, not being able to resist the blows anymore. Yakumo noticed this, and hurried with his current supporting genjutsu, which was taking more time to create as the lack of her paintings were causing her problems to give them a proper image.

In the hands of the Kurama clan member, a great and golden spear materialized in her hands, appearing to be quite light as the girl was perfectly able to hold and throw it without looking as strong as you'd need to be to carry such a weapon. Unfortunately for her, Lee grabbed the spear before her creation did and used it to destroy it. The taijutsu expert saw the exact same clothes and hair from the girl, not noticing that her head was still human, and went to attack her. The genjutsu prodigy made desperately made gestures with her hand, materializing a shield that blocked the spear that had been thrown at her, both tools vanshing as soon as they touched each other.

Yakumo, now having run out of chakra, covered herself with her thin and weak arms, hoping to survive the thrash she was about to receive. "I surrender!" she desperately yelled, snapping Lee out of his horrified state and taking some time to analyze the one who was in front of him, finding the girl from the start of the fight covering herself from him.

"Um, alright I guess." Hayate said, being sure that if the girl had been able to cause that many problems to her opponent, she would've perfectly been able to win. "The winner is Rock Lee!"

"Huh?" a confused Rock Lee raised one of his thick eyebrows trying to understand what just had happened, but leaving the arena horrified as he remembered the existance of the demonic creature.

Yakumo just stood up back straight and, disappointed in herself, went back with her team. She was received by a hug from Shiho and a palm in the back by Nobuyuki. Genma gave her a thumbs up in approval for her performance.

"We just need to work in those chakra reserves." the jounin said with a comforting voice.

The screen started to choose between random words, forming two names little by little, finally showing the next two contenders after a couple of minutes. Those names were the ones of Gaara of the Sand and Nobuyuki Hyuga, and although the Hyuga was quite confident in himself after the certain ability he had gained back in the Forest of Death, he didn't know who he was facing. As normal, his team encouraged, which he really appreciated, but when he was already down in the arena, the face of his opponent, emotionless, unsettled him.

"Fight!" Hayate yelled, marking the beginning of the match.

From the start, Nobuyuki imagined he was about to fight someone as talented as Neji or maybe even superior than the Hyuga genius, but at least he was ready for anything. Gaara remained still, staring with emotionless eyes directly at the half-Hyuga. Nobuyuki did not hesitate to take advantage from this lack of movement, dashing at his opponent with his gentle-fist ready, activating his Byakugan in the way. The facts that a Hyuga did not have white eyes and that the Byakugan could only activate in one of his eyes made him really interesting for Gaara, who got ready to block everything he had.

The first palm was instantly blocked from a long distance by a wall of sand that fell apart immediately after blocking his attack and going back to the redhead's pumpkin hanging in his back. The half-Hyuga kept attacking with quick palm hits, failing to land a single blow and earning Neji's laughs as a result. These laughs started to disappear as each palm Nobuyuki tried to deliver became faster than the last one, starting to result in the half-Hyuga's desperation. Gaara remained creepily emotionless during the entire match up until that point, as if the sand was making everything by itself.

Nobuyuki, now on his limit, started to change directions, surrounding a circle of sand that was constantly blocking his attacks, getting him further from Gaara each time he attacked. The farther he found himself from the redhead, the more frustrated he became and the more anger-driven the palms got. His chakra draining and energy goind down, he was finally done with the damn sand, and decided to fight with everything. He tried to emulate the way he activated the Byakugan in his right eye to activate the Sharingan in the other one, finding that something was wrong as he wasn't able to. At that moment, he noticed that the redhead had turned to look at him, also noticing the sand streams that aimed at him, dodging it thanks to his Byakugan.

Despite dodging the first attack, a second stream of sand was able to catch him, proving the disadvantages of possessing just one Byakugan. The sand covered his entire body in a matter of seconds, being followed by it starting to crush him. The now desperate Hyuga activated his sharingan, figuring it out and desperately thinking of a way out of that situation. At that moment, he remembered seeing Sasuke perform his fireball jutsu once, and having been taught about the abilities of the Sharingan in the academy, he decided to try and emulate said jutsu, not thinking about the possible burns he could get as he was trapped in the sand.

"Fire style: Great Fireball jutsu!" The half-Hyuga yelled, being heard from outside the sand and making Kakashi widen his only visible eye as a great fireball came out of the sand, destroying it and giving Nobuyuki the opportunity to escape.

Every Jounin and Genin present in the room, except for Gaara of course, was totally shocked as Nobuyuki emerged out of the sand with a Sharingan in his left eye. His took his burnt gray sweater and threw it away, now only wearing a sleeveless net shirt in the upper part of his body.

"This can't be..." Hayate said, his face still filled with utter shock.

"A Sharingan and a Byakugan...? Is this even possible?" a shocked Might Guy asked Kakashi, receiving a negative response.

Neji watched astonished as the half-Hyuga, the kid he had teased almost his entire life, became the favorite to get the rank of Chunin as he now possessed two Doujutsus. Lee, Naruto, Shikamaru and the rest of the Genin joined Neji in his absolute astonishment. Gohan, while not comprehending the Doujutsus at their full extent, knew both the importance they held in that world and how much it increased the capabilities of a shinobi.

"This ends now." Nobuyuki said as he made the gestures to perform another fire jutsu. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu."

The fire broke through the several walls of sand that raised as the half-Hyuga advanced, although he couldn't last long as his chakra drained too quickly. From there on, he'd have to rely solely in his speed, strength and abilities to dodge the attacks against him. Several walls raised in his way, but he just avoided them and continued his quick advance towards the redhead. Each wall was thicker and larger than the last one, which started to concern the half-Hyuga profoundly, as his way to victory got harder by the second.

Finally, the wall became too large to avoid, which Nobuyuki imagined to require more sand, which made them thinner. He figured that maybe breaking holes out of the walls with his palms could be affordable, which he did. Surprisingly for such a brute tactic, it worked, helping the Half-Hyuga get closer to the redhead, and after some more minutes of running and breaking holes out of the walls, he finally reached his opponent, who stared directly at him with now an angry expression. He got his palm ready, even extended it and he could swear he brushed his hair before being sent away.

He saw it coming, of course he did, he possessed both the Byakugan and the Sharingan, after all. The hit was so strong that it left him nailed in the wall, some bones broken along with his spirit, which had been obliterated more than his physical body after such a defeat. And if the ability of Nobuyuki of activating both the Sharigan and the Byakugan, the way Gaara defeated him like nothing made them even worse. Hayate had to intervene the fight and cut the stream of sand that was about to finish the double-doujutsu warrior.

"You win, but there's no need to continue." Hayate firmly said, giving a serious look to Gaara, who retreated his sand back to the pumpkin in his back. "The fight's already over."

The lizard expert called Genma as he grabbed the barely conscious and bloody genin and, as soon as Genma arrived, handed him over. Shiho and Yakumo followed their teacher to the nursery, not being stopped as they had already fought their matches, great concern painted in their expressions. Gohan could just stare at Gaara, who seemed to calm down again and went back to the platforms. The genin from the Sand were acting like nothing had happened, but the genin from the Leaf were just simply astonished, even fearful, at the way someone as seemingly powerful as Nobuyuki had been thrashed.

Hayate proceeded with the matches, ignoring what had happened. The screen showed the names of the next contenders, giving Hayate something to say after such an event. "Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi."

Both genin snapped out of their astonishment and went down to the arena, quickly finding themselves facing each other. The Nara had gotten too much time to think about an universal strategy, but he still had to see if it worked in the girl. Hayate gave the signal for the battle to begin. Kin was quick to throw several senbon at Shikamaru, who struggled to dodge them, getting some of them nailed. He grabbed two of his kunai and started dodging the senbon and blocking the ones that were impossible for him to avoid.

After several senbon, there was a moment in which the kunoichi stopped her attack, which Shikamaru used to execute his plan. He was once again interrupted by a senbon attack, now receiving all three of them in his left arm. He ignored the senbon and threw his own kunai, using that as a distraction to catch his signature jutsu.

"Ha! Nice try, rookie." Kin said, being followed by a playful and soft laugh from the Nara.

"Look at your shadow." the confident genin said, grinning as he spoke.

The kunoichi was just in front of the wall, which gave Shikamaru a funnier idea. He grabbed a shuriken from his pocket and threw it to the kunoichi, who followed his movements as the technique forced her to. Although as Shikamaru dodged the shuriken thrown by the kunoichi, she emulated the moves, hitting her head with the wall and falling unconscious.

Hayate resisted his laughter. "The winner is Shikamaru Nara."

Team 10 cheered for their teammate and laughed at how silly the defeat of Kin had been. Team Dosu just facepalmed or looked away from the embarrassing defeat their teammate had suffered.

"Seems we'll all go through, there's only you missing, Chouji." the Akimichi nodded back in response.

"I hope I at least do well." Chouji said as he ate his chips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was it for this week! I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Hope you have a nice day!


	15. Chunin Exams: Preliminaries. Part 4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The preliminary matches come to an end, being followed by an explanation from the Hokage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! In the end, it was just a week, so I guess I overreacted a bit.  
> Anyways, I hope you like the chapter and, as I always say, feel free to leave feedback (if necessary) in the comments.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor do I own Naruto, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).

"I wonder who's going next." Naruto said, turning to Kakashi, who shrugged in response. He was the only member of his team that hadn't fought up to that point, which made him quite disappointed as he was really excited to show to everyone that he wasn't as weak as everyone thought he was. Even with his excitement to fight, he still remained concerned for the bad state, mentally for Sasuke and physically for Sakura, his teammates had left the arena in, and the fact that despite her damage Sakura had decided to stay there just worsened this concern.

"Maybe you'll finally fight, Naruto." Sakura replied, smiling at her teammate as she was sitting behind the railing of the platform they were standing on.

Kakashi just remained expectant of what was to happen, already determined to train Sasuke and try to prevent many things he already saw coming with the influence of Orochimaru in the life of the young Uchiha. As for Sakura, he was as concerned for her as he could be taking in mind the little time he had spent with the girl and how irritating she could turn out to be.

Close to them, team 10 were also expectant for Chouji's match as he was the one he was missing. Everyone except Gohan, that is, as he had remained concentrated in the redhead genin from another village that had just obliterated the one that had surprised everyone due to having what he had read to be powerful Dojutsus. He was also surprised, given that his Ki increased a quite considerable amount once he activated the Sharingan, surpassing by far the level managed by ninja of his level.

"I hope Chouji doesn't suffer what that other guy did." the half-saiyan said, mainly to himself, but he also wanted the rest to hear him.

Ino noticed this, thinking that it was cute that he cared so much for people, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I don't really think they'll let anyone else die in the preliminaries."

Gohan turned to her, giving her a concerned expression. "Someone actually died today, remember?" his teammate's answer was cut out by the referee's voice, who coughed to get everyone's attention.

"The preliminaries are getting closer to an end," Hayate said with his typical tired and indifferent tone, "the next match will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Dosu Kinuta."

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled victorious, raising his fist up, jumping to the arena from the platform after this, emulating what Lee had done before. After he fell down, he figured it was a bad idea, rubbing his butt after it had hit the floor.

Kakashi facepalmed as everyone else just laughed or cringed at such a stupid thing to do.

Dosu, the opponent Naruto was to fight against in the match, laughed at him as he arrived at his place in the arena. "This seems to be an easy win for me, huh?"

"You shouldn't be so sure about that." Naruto had his determination painted in his face, getting in his fighting stance as he spoke.

"Go!" Hayate said, marking the start of the blonde's attack.

Naruto approached his opponent with the intentions of landing a punch in his stomach, but he was thrown away by a sound wave so strong that forced him to go away. The masked genin from the Sound took this as the confirmation of his advantage. In response, the blonde genin grabbed a handful of shuriken in each one of his hands, throwing them at the masked shinobi.

"That's such a simple and predictable thing to do," Dosu said in a mocking way, "I don't get why you keep doing it." He deflected the shurikens with another sound wave, which Naruto used to find out where they were coming from.

"So, it's your arm..."

Naruto had already moved away as the shurikens landed in the floor, surprising Dosu as he expected the blonde boy to be incompetent. Dosu's eyes widened as much as they could as the same blonde kid that had just fallen down on his butt created what seemed to be, at least, 20 shadow clones. Each Naruto, including the original one, ran in different directions all around Dosu, who was just overwhelmed by the great amount of clones. Each Naruto threw another handful of shurikens, which forces Dosu to use both his arms to deflect the ones that came directly at him. Suddenly, three Naruto's exchanged places with the shurikens, which took the Sound-nin by surprise. The trio of Naruto's kicked the genin's face while still being in air, which caused the opponent to throw two powerful sound waves from both his arms as a reflex, then falling down unconscious, victim of the powerful triple kick he had received.

One of the clones exploded in a cloud of smoke as the sound wave hit it, while the other Naruto hit by a sound wave was the original one, causing him to fall down with a severe damage in his ears, the left one being covered by blood. Naruto stood up as he checked on his ear with his hand, confirming that he was bleeding from his ears. Sakura tried to stand up as she saw her teammate injured, but Kakashi prevented her from doing it, shaking his head in disapproval. He still understood the girl's concern and went to check on Naruto himself.

"As Dosu Kinuta appears to have been knocked out, Naruto Uzumaki is the winner of the fight!" Hayate announced as he raised his right arm and pointed to the blonde genin.

Kakashi was already in the arena when Naruto started celebrating, which prevented the kid from noticing Kakashi. "You shouldn't be so happy, Naruto," the silver-haired ninja said, his voice as soft and indifferent as always. The kid continued celebrating and yelling how great of a shinobi he was, apparently ignoring the Jounin and annoying him in the process. " **NARUTO!** " This time, Kakashi had yelled as he was almost next to the kid, finally gaining his attention.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, hey." Naruto said with a nervous smile noticing the fury in his master's only visible eye.

"Why do you ignore me?" Kakashi said with an angry and annoyed tone.

"Huh? Were you calling me? I could swear I didn't hear anything." Naruto said as he rubbed his chin while thinking.

It was then when Kakashi acknowledged the severe bleeding in the kid's ear, which led him to a quite concerning conclusion. "Wait a minute, let me try something." Kakashi placed his two hands in each side of the kid's head, leaving his right hand next to the kid's left ear and his left hand next to the kid's right ear. He snapped the fingers of his left hand first. "Can you hear it?" Naruto nodded in response to this. Kakashi then snapped the fingers of his right hand, asking the same question as before.

Naruto quickly placed his hand in his damaged ear in response to the pain inflicted by the beeping sound in his ear. Kakashi did not require anything more to confirm his theory.

"Naruto, your eardrum has been damaged by the attack of that guy, you need to go to the nursery immediately." The silver-haired jounin said with a serious tone in his voice.

"But I want to watch the rest of the games!" Naruto replied as he still covered his bleeding ear with his hand.

"Well, if you want to lose your hearing, then go ahead." Kakashi replied with a now authoritarian voice. He turned back and pointed to Sakura, who was still sitting down. "You too! Guy, take her here, please."

Guy quickly grabbed the girl and jumped from the platform while carrying her in his arms, making her scream out of the fear caused by the sudden move. The man wearing the green spandex gave the girl to Kakashi, who then proceeded to take both of his students to the nursery.

"I hope he gets better..." Hinata softly said, making Kiba jealous of her concern for Naruto.

"He will, he will." Kiba replied as he tried to calm the girl down.

Gohan was concerned for Naruto, of course he was, how wouldn't he feel like that when this is just supposed to be a test and not a real battlefield? All he could do for now was just wait, thinking that maybe having taken some time to learn some healing magic from Dende wouldn't have been such a bad idea.

"The next match will be between Son Gohan and Zaku Abumi," Hayate announced, "please come down to the arena to continue with the last two matches."

"Good luck!" Ino kindly said as she gave a palm in the saiyan's back.

"Don't lose." Shikamaru said, getting a laugh and nod from the saiyan.

As Gohan jumped to the arena, his landing creating a crater, he found that his opponent had both of his arms were bandaged and probably even broken. This was already enough to take away Gohan's desire to even try to fight, but he figured that at that point he was forced to do it. His muscles were the cause of the intimidation Zaku felt from the saiyan, who just trembled as he waited for his inevitable defeat. This gesture just eradicated any possibility of Gohan following the tournament, he just couldn't fight against someone that is injured to the point that he cannot defend himself.

"Fight!" Hayate yelled.

Zaku, hiding his fear, took one of his arms out and pointed it towards Gohan. "Surrender or I shall kill you." Even himself was surprised when his voice didn't crack while talking.

Gohan emulated fear in his face, raising his hands in the process. "Alright, alright, I surrender."

Shikamaru's jaw dropped down directly to the floor as his teammate had just done what he asked him a minute ago not to do. Next to him, the also shocked Ino and Chouji, who almost choked with one of his chips, stood with their eyes totally widened. Behind them, Asuma's cigarette dropped from his now opened mouth, a drop of sweat sliding down his forehead.

Zaku sighed as soon as he heard those words come out of the saiyan's mouth, snapping Hayate out of his confusion. "Uh, Zaku Abumi is the winner, then," the sick-looking jounin said, "I was so sure that Gohan would win..." He whispered to himself.

Gohan was quick to go back to his place in the platform, apparently not minding the fact that he surrendered, which kind of annoyed Shikamaru. He was received by confused glances, from team Guy, from team 8, from team 5 and from his own team. Although the only glance he minded, outside from his teammates', was Shiho's, which confirmed him the fact that even people like Shiho thought of surrendering, even when justified by such thing as the battle being unfair, was a weird and even bad thing.

"Why did you surrender?" Shikamaru, totally confused, approached him to make the question.

"I mean, why wouldn't I?" Gohan answered, embracing the vision of life his friends and family had taught him. "I can't fight against someone whose arms are broken..."

Chouji stopped eating his chips to join the discussion. "But what about the exams? You just lost the opportunity of becoming a Chunin!"

The saiyan's answer was cut by the blonde girl, who also intervened. "I was sure you would become a Chunin easily, I just don't get why you would do something as surrendering when you clearly had an easy win!"

"Well, I don't care about becoming a Chunin, then!" Gohan said with a strong voice. "Not if that's what being a Chunin means."

Asuma remained silent, lighting another one of his cigarettes and laying on the wall behind him.

"Didn't you already know what becoming a shinobi even meant, in the first place?" Shikamaru replied.

The saiyan turned his glance to the Nara, whose expression only denoted confusion and a chance of annoyance. He had never thought of it, actually, that he had been so dedicated to finding a way to go back home that he took decisions to become something he was ignorant of just to get some money. He had never thought of the moral disagreements he would have with such a position, and yet he never thought of taking that on count and directly accepted it. Fortunately for him, though, Hayate announced what would be the last match of the preliminaries.

"Chouji Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka!" The jounin announced, coughing after doing so. "Please come down to the arena."

"Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba said as he clenched his fist, receiving a bark from his dog in response.

"Good luck, Kiba." Hinata said with her typical soft voice, which was really cute for Kiba, who smiled widely at the Hyuga's phrase.

On the other hand, a discussion had been interrupted in team 10, which helped to catch the Akimichi by surprise. "Huh? So I was the last one?" Chouji lowered his head in disappointment.

"Don't care much about it, you'll still win!" Ino said, giving him a thumbs up and a wide smile.

"You act like Naruto..." Shikamaru replied with an annoyed tone, earning a strong hit from the blonde kunoichi, who got furious at the comparison between her and Naruto.

Gohan ignored the discussion that had just taken place, turning to Chouji with a smile as he left for the arena. "Good luck! I know you can win this!"

The Akimichi nodded in a way of thanking the onyx-haired warrior, giving a glance to the hardly dirty purple clothes he was wearing, noticing that the only damage they had received were the mark of the kunai that he received when he protected them back in the Forest of Death.

Kiba arrived first at the arena, as his place in the platform was closer to the stairs than the Akimichi's one. They bumped their fists before fighting, they were good friends after all. They adopted their respective fighting stances, Akamaru just showing his fangs, as Hayate slightly bent down to give the starting signal.

"Fight!" The jounin ordered with a strong voice.

Kiba and Akamaru were quick to start pressuring on the Akimichi, who knew from the start that he'd have to go on the defensive against the dog trainer. Chouji actually had little complications when defending Kiba's attacks, but his dog companion caused him quite a lot of problems, as it always achieved to bite or scratch him. The little dog now turned into the chips eater's main objective. Chouji took some distance from his opponents, winning enough time to do the hand gestures required for his signature jutsu, although the constant attempts to do it were interrupted by the fast duo of a dog and it's master.

The dog trainer noticed this, of course, and took advantage of his opponent's slowness at the time of doing jutsus. The only thing that Akamaru and Kiba did was to accelerate the pace of their offensive, creating blurs for the less trained eyes and maximizing the damage received by Chouji. Akamaru's bites and scratches pushed the Akimichi to succumb to pressure, taking the desperate decision of making hand gestures while being under attack. By the time he was done with the jutsu, his legs were bleeding severely and his arms were filled with marks from the dog's claws and fangs.

" **Expansion jutsu!** " Chouji finally yelled, relieving the pressure, concern and even fear that filled his teammates at the moment. His hands increased their size immensely, showing that his technique had been successful. He used his now giant hands to push his opponents back, actually managing to push Akamaru all the way back to the wall, getting it unconscious.

"Damn it." Kiba said to himself, his face serious and concerned, and honestly, why wouldn't he? His strategy had now been put on critical risk of not being even useful anymore, as it relied basically in the involvement of his dog companion in the battle. "If you want to play serious," the Inuzuka said as he made hand gestures, a smirk on his face, "then we'll have to play seriously, too."

Two shadow clones appeared at each side of the original Kiba, whose smirk now turned into a challenging smile. The original Kiba grabbed two kunai from his pocket, getting in position to attack, but Chouji was taken by surprise as the kunai were just thrown to him, one being tied to a smoke bomb. The shadow clones ran directly at the opponent, who had already dispersed the smoke using his giant hands as a fan, while the original one went back to aid Akamaru.

"Huh, so not only does he have Naruto's hairstyle but he also copies his jutsus." Shino pointed out with his typical silent tone, as if he was speaking to himself.

The clones were already gone and the original Kiba had just dodged an attack from the Akimichi along with his dog, who moved to the opposite of his master. Akamaru, now buffed thanks to the effects of the soldier pill he'd received from Kiba, growled at the Akimichi, who got nervous as he recognized what had happened to Akamaru.

 _A soldier pill..._ Chouji thought as a drop of sweat went down his face. His hands moved in front of him, now acting as a wall against any possible attack that could arrive from the duo. Little did the Akimichi know of what was coming.

" **Man beast clone!** " Kiba said as Akamaru jumped into his bent down back. Akamaru turned into an exact clone of Kiba, both of them now showing off their teeth. Akamaru, now a clone of Kiba, jumped from his back and got into a beast-like fighting stance.

Meanwhile, Chouji was unable to see any of what was happening as his giant hands blocked the sight, but he couldn't really afford to lose his main defense against the enemy offense. The duo, now having more animalistic characteristic such as sharp claws, jumped to the attack against the giant hands of the Akimichi, who tried to block them but failed due to the duo's incredible speed.

" **Man-beast taijutsu: Fang over Fang!** " Kiba yelled before the two of them turned into a weird type of drill, going through Chouji's defense and being hit directly.

Chouji fell unconscious after the hit, he had not been able to block it and the attack had been just too powerful for him to resist it. Akamaru turned back into his normal form as his master started celebrating their victory, to which the dog joined.

"Hmm, as Chouji Akimichi isn't able to continue fighting, the winner of the battle is officially Kiba Inuzuka." Hayate announced, causing team 8 to start celebrating while team 10 got disappointed for his friend's loss, although Gohan was only relieved that he had survived the fight. "That gives an end to the preliminary exams, so once I'll go ahead and explain the rules of the third phase, so you will have to explain the injured that are in the nursery what I'm about to explain to you."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Hayate, I'll do it myself." Hiruzen's voice filled the arena, catching everyone by surprise. The Third entered the arena through the main entrance, followed by his assistant, who was still bandaged. "First of all, I want to congratulate you all for your performance in you respective matches, you have all fought admirably, with the will of fire burning in your spirit." This statement surprised everyone even more, as they could swear that the old man had left the place. "Taking that apart, I will proceed to explain the third phase and it's rules," at this point, the Hokage had already gone back to the position he was before the preliminaries started. "the third and last phase of the exams will be held in a month from now, this is because we believe you all need to have time to prepare. Now, the rules are basically the same of the preliminary matches, the only difference being that there will be an audience. The matches will be announced two days before the day of the matches." He made his typical smile. "This would give an end to the preliminary matches, therefore, you are free to leave."

The genin and jounin present followed the Hokage's suggestion, noticing that more than a suggestion it was an order. Before he left, Asuma grabbed Gohan's shoulder while still smoking his cigarette.

"Huh?" Gohan raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"I need to talk to you later, so let me know when you can," Asuma said with a calm and relaxed tone, "it's about being a shinobi."

Gohan nodded in response, already knowing what he would tell him. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Alright, see ya in the training camp." Asuma said as he waved and left for the entrance.

The saiyan turned to his teammates, who were still talking, even Chouji, who was still bleeding. "See ya."

"Goodbye, Gohan!" Ino enthusiastically and kindly said, waving back at him.

"Bye, whatever." Shikamaru indifferently said.

"Uh, bye. If you're eating dinner outside, make sure to invite me!" Chouji said as he smiled and gave Gohan a thumbs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the preliminaries are over and the chunin exams are getting closer to an end!
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember to leave any feedback or whatever in the reviews! Oh, and btw, I'd like to ask if you'd like me to decide the pairings or if you prefer for me to do a poll or something to decide them, so feel free to answer that too.
> 
> Have a nice day and see you later!


	16. Planning.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the preliminaries, the remaining contenders of the Leaf plan their training for the month-long break given by the Hokage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> I know I'm kinda late, but I've been quite busy with exams and all, so sorry about that... ^^'
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor do I own Naruto, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).

A day had gone by after the preliminary matches for the Chunin exams, giving place for the month-long break for the remaining genin to prepare and rest before the final challenge of the exams. Most of the genin of the Leaf had gone out to either celebrate or just to spend time with their teammates, some even going to the hospital to visit their injured teammates, between those, team 5 and team 7. Genma, Yakumo and Shiho went to visit the severely injured Nobuyuki, who had actually won much prestige after revealing his capability of using both of the Leaf's dojutsus, so much that even the likes of Danzo Shimura, known for being the Third's advisor, visited him.

Once such visit was over, one that even Genma was surprised about, the jounin in charge of team 5 decided to explain how he had decided to handle his students' training.

"I'm glad you're getting better, Nobuyuki. Your performance in the preliminaries was remarkable, nevermind the fact that you lost." Genma said, getting a smile out of the Hyuuga. "Now, I need to talk to you about the training during this month."

"Oh, right, I also wanted to talk to you about it, Genma-sensei." Shiho said, clearly relieved because her teacher brought the topic before her.

"Will we continue to train as well or will we have to train on our own?" Nobuyuki asked, his face turning serious. His interest in training was given by the humiliating defeat he'd suffered in his match of the preliminaries, where he'd been proven not to be strong enough. He had promised his father to become the strongest Hyuuga alive, and so he would.

"You will have to wait until you are recovered, so forget about it." Genma replied, his voice strong and demanding, although suddenly changing to a softer tone as he turned to his other student. "But Yakumo can join us if she wants to."

Yakumo nodded in response, accepting to join them in their training. "Could you help me with my chakra control, Genma-sensei? I waste too much chakra with every genjutsu." She said, her softness reflected on her voice, although Gemma knew that she wasn't as weak as she seemed to be.

"Hmm, we'll have to work on that, but there's just some jutsus that inevitable waste lots of chakra." The Jounin explained. "But maybe we'll achieve something, women tend to have better chakra control."

"Huh? Really?" Nobuyuki asked, raising one of his eyebrows in confusion.

"Uh, I thought you learned that in the academy." Genma said as he scratched his head. "That's why most of the medical shinobi are kunoichi, so yeah."

"We did learn about that, it's just that Nobuyuki was never one with amazing results in the academy." Yakumo said as she mocked her teammate with mean faces.

"Don't lie! I have always been an amazing student!" Nobuyuki replied, wanting to move but feeling a lot of pain every time he tried to, causing him to remain in his bed, staring at Yakumo.

Shiho only watched the conversation silently, as she did most of the time. She had always been a quiet girl, after all.

"You're lucky, though, Yakumo." Genma said, interrupting the conversation between the two other genin. He had to explain what he meant as all of his students got confused expressions. "You are both a girl and a member of the Kurama clan, so that means your chakra control is better and your ability in genjutsu remarkable." Genma said, reminding them about the Kurama clan, which had been exiled a couple of years prior.

"And what about me? I'm a Hyuuga!" Nobuyuki protested, receiving a confused glance from both his teammates.

"Half Hyuuga, you mean! I actually had forgot about this, but we need to talk." Genma said, scaring his student with his menacing stare. "You never mentioned your mother was an Uchiha!"

"Wait, what?" Yakumo asked before her jaw dropped. "Uchiha and Hyuuga as a couple? There's no way."

"H-half Uchiha?" A shocked Shiho asked, her eyes widened.

"My mother what?" Nobuyuki asked back with a confused expression. "A-an Uchiha?" He remembered his first years in the clan, always separated from his father, who was despised by those of both the main and secondary branch.

"Didn't you know about it?" Genma confusedly asked.

"I don't even remember how she looked like." Nobuyuki said, his tone softer and weaker than before. "My father told me she went on a trip, but if she was an Uchiha..."

"I-Itachi Uchiha." Shiho added, lowering her head as she took her glasses off to clean them.

"That explains your ability to awaken both the Byakugan and the Sharingan, but..." Gemma scratched his chin. "Aren't you supposed to actually lose both instead of having them? Doesn't matter, maybe we'll get an explanation later, let's just focus in something different." He cleared his throat before continuing. "Did you know that I used to be a guard of the Hokage?"

"That story again?!" Yakumo, annoyed, asked.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kakashi decided to reunite team 7 and visit Sasuke in the hospital, using that time to explain how their training would proceed, having already chosen to only train Sasuke as Naruto would train with Ebisu. Once they were in Sasuke's hospital room, Kakashi raised his voice.

"As you know, you've been given a month to prepare for the next phase of the exam." Kakashi said with his typical calm tone, getting the attention of his students. "And someone has to take care of you for that month," he scratched his head before continuing, "and I chose Sasuke."

"What do you mean you chose Sasuke?!" Naruto angrily yelled. "I also got to the next round!"

"Calm down, calm down, you will train with Ebisu." Kakashi indifferently said as he waved Naruto's yells away.

"Ebisu? That weakling?" Naruto disappointedly asked. "Why won't you train me too?"

Sasuke just stared at the two of them discussing from his hospital bed, not caring much about it as he was being trained by the silver-haired Jounin. On the other hand, Sakura was also disappointed that her teacher wouldn't help her with training, although she kind of understood why, it being because she didn't go on to the next round.

"I don't have much time to train all of you, that's why." Kakashi answered. He knew in his insides that he was lying, but he needed to say something.

"Ugh, whatever, I'll still become a chūnin and become Hokage!" Naruto yelled, pointing to the jounin's face. "You'll see!"

"Um, Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura raised her voice, catching her teacher by surprise, him turning to her with his eyes widened. "What about me?"

_Damn it, I forgot about her... think think think._ Kakashi cleared his throat before answering. "You didn't go on to the next round, so I don't think it is necessary to train you."

"O-oh, I see..." Sakura disappointedly replied, lowering her head as she remembered her defeat against Ino, who was clearly superior to her.

"Don't worry, Sakura! You can train with Ebisu and me!" Naruto said, giving her a thumbs up and receiving a nod from the girl.

_Huh, I was saved by Naruto..._ Kakashi thought. "Alright, then, it's settled."

* * *

The attacks taken from Neji had left Hinata in a severe state, unconscious and having been close to death as her heart stopped shortly after being taken to the nursery, but she was rescued by the medical shinobi that achieved to revive her with chakra pulses. This made it impossible for Kurenai to even hope to train her within that month, forcing her to exclude the shy girl from her plans. Nevertheless, her other two students had gone through to the next phase of the Chunin Exams, which still made her feel quite proud, generally speaking. She had told both of them to meet at one of the training camps, and there they were when she arrived, which she expected from Shino but not from Kiba.

"What a surprise, Kiba, you're here early." Kurenai remarked, laughing as the dog trainer smiled nervously. "Anyway, I asked you to come because we need to talk about your training during this month."

"Oh, so will we get some training from you?" Kiba excitedly asked.

The red-eyed jounin nodded in response, which interested Shino, as he felt that being trained by a jounin would be quite beneficial to him. "I see you two are interested, I'm glad." Kurenai said, catching the expressionless bug expert by surprise.

"I will become stronger so I'll defeat that Neji guy!" Kiba stated, his fist working as a manifestation of his determination. "I'll never forgive him for what he did to Hinata!"

Kurenai's face got decorated by a little and subtle smile. "I see you like her pretty much, Kiba, that's so cute."

"Yeah, she's really cute!" The dog trainer said before cringing at the realization of what he'd just said.

"Do you at least care to try to hide it anymore?" Shino, annoyance filling the sound of his voice, asked.

Kurenai laughed at both of them, although they couldn't be mad at her as that laugh was a sweet one more than a mocking one, which caused Kiba to join the laughs, and Shino to smile behind the turtle neck of his jacket as he shook his head.

* * *

Winning was all Neji could think of, it was his destiny, which he had started to accomplish since his triumph over the heir of the main branch of the clan. Multiple times had his teacher told him to leave that idea of destiny, which he thought to be bad for the Hyuga genius, but Neji refused to give up on his principles, he refused to let go of his hatred.

The day before, Might Guy had told all three of his students to meet at the training camp, where he would be waiting for them, patiently and excitedly. In said training camp, Guy waited for his students to arrive, who arrived at the exact hour he had told them to. Neji showed up with his typical clothes, just as Lee did, although Tenten had her arms and legs covered with bandages as a result of her match in the preliminaries.

"Welcome, my youthful students." The jounin said, trying to retain his tears of pride. "I'm really proud of you, your youth is truly admirable." He finally succumbed to tears.

"Guy-sensei..." Lee said before joining his teacher's tears and hugging him.

The sight of both shinobi, same hairstyle and clothes, caused Tenten to cringe as Neji just shook his head. The duo rushed to the other two members of the team, forcing them to join the hug. Tenten managed to escape first from the hug, being followed by Neji, who palmed one of Lee's arm, leaving it numb and escaping through the space it left.

After a couple more minutes, the green spandex duo finally got apart, giving space for a change of atmosphere as Guy adopted a serious expression. This managed to get Neji's attention, who had previously heard that his teacher was actually one of the strongest shinobi in the village, but believed it to be fake given his personality. Tenten was also surprised by the change of attitude her teacher had.

"Given that two of you managed to go on through to the final part of the Chunin Exams, you shall now receive superior training." Guy said, clearly fighting hard to hold the tears of pride back. "Tenten, you will also be part of this training, your performance was remarkable and I'm pretty sure you will achieve to reach the Chunin rank next year."

"Thanks, Guy-sensei." Tenten said, bowing at the jounin, but cringing as soon as she noticed that he had started to cry again.

Guy cleared his throat before continuing, tears already escaping his eyes. "Excuse me, I am just a little bit emotional today." He cleared his throat once again. "Your training will start by tomorrow, so feel free to come here by the same time, also doesn't matter if you need some time to rest, just let me know."

Neji, disappointed in his teacher, nodded before leaving the place. Tenten, who actually intended to train with the jounin as she was perfectly conscious of his capability in tajutsu, nodded, also leaving the place shortly after. Lee got a firm stance and bowed, showing his gratefulness to the jounin.

* * *

The day before, his teacher had told him to meet at that same training camp, the one he and his teammates had their brief training on, at that same hour. Under the intense midday sun, a calm half-saiyan meditated, his body levitating as a result of his meditation and his purple clothes, similar to those given by Piccolo to him, were soaked by his sweat. For him, his teacher had already took too long, although he always preferred to wait, a clear result of Piccolo's teachings. As a drop of sweat went down his face, from the forehead to the chin, going through the closed right eye and the side of the nose, the click of a lighter filled the once silent training area, where only the sound of the grass and leaves of trees dancing was heard.

Gohan's black eyes opened, his sight catching the figure of his teacher, who was smoking a cigarette, his expression calm as it mostly was. The saiyan's feet stood in the grass, the sound getting Asuma's attention, whose eyes turned to his young student. The son of the Third sat down in the grass, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and breathing the pure air provided by the plants, his sight suddenly turning nostalgic for a moment, turning back into their serious counterpart rapidly. As the cigarette went back to his mouth, his gaze went back to the onyx-haired foreigner, that mysterious kid that came down from the sky, who had imitated his movements and had sat down in the same position he had previously held during his meditation.

One cloud of smoke came out of his mouth before speaking. "I used to train here with many friends, it brings really good memories." Asuma said, his cigarette moving slightly as he smiled. He smoked once more, erasing that smile from his mouth. "As well as really sad ones." The cloud of smoke emitted by him hid his hurt expression. "But that's just one more part of my job."

A pair of onyx eyes were now staring directly at the calm Asuma, their owner calm himself, but curious of what the one in front of him was trying to reach with what he was saying. The memories of losing Piccolo, Krillin, his own father and now his family went quickly through his mind, interrupted by the typically relaxed voice of his teacher.

"Many of us dream from a really young age to be a shinobi, one of those heroes that protect our home with their lives, those heroes that represent the very Will of Fire, those heroes that receive honors from the Hokage himself, those heroes that everyone loves and admires..." Asuma paused for a moment to smoke from his cigarette. "Those same heroes that participate in constant wars, those same heroes that suffer many losses throughout their short lives, those same heroes that do not even say goodbye to their loved ones before dying."

Gohan waited for a couple of seconds before speaking up, he didn't want to interrupt what he thought was a monologue being held by his teacher, but those seconds demonstrated that more than a monologue, it was supposed to be a discussion, that his teacher cared about his view. "I see that a shinobi has quite a powerful meaning in this world, which makes me think that maybe I've misunderstood the concept." The saiyan opened his eyes and turned them to the son of the Third Hokage. "In the place I come from, the heroes are those that save the world, the universe, the heroes are those like my father..." Gohan remembered Goku saying goodbye before taking the gigantic mass Cell had turned to at that point, dying along with the bio-android and King Kai. "But through his life, he's also killed, like a shinobi does, for what we believed to be the greater good."

Asuma nodded as the saiyan's eyes asked if a shinobi was like he'd just described. "But I'd be lying if I said that everyone or even the majority were what a shinobi is supposed to be." Sarutobi let another cloud of smoke out of his mouth. "Many commit horrible things, that unfortunately aren't crimes when they are affiliated to one of the hidden villages... But I would be lying too if I said that there's no wonderful or just good shinobi out there, because they're out there, sharing the same place as horrible people."

"I think I get it now..." Gohan wanted to learn more about many things of that world, but he still had the urge to find a way to go back to the his world, which he already missed quite badly. "It doesn't take the fact that I don't like that way of living, I despise killing."

"So do I and many others, but unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary and mostly inevitable." Asuma explained, his tone serious and calm.

Gohan didn't like that answer, but he kept his composure. "Isn't there another way? I've always found myself surrounded by death and suffering, trained harshly from a really young age, forced to fight when I didn't want to... I'd like to think that there is another way of fighting without including death."

"And maybe there is in certain cases, but as I told you, sometimes it is necessary." Asuma said as he stood up. "But don't worry, you will understand it one day, and I'll be there to see it." He extended his arm, helping Gohan stand up, even though it wasn't necessary. "I see you came early, that's great."

The silhouettes of his friends were suddenly recognized by his onyx eyes, which took him by surprise. As they approached him and his teacher, Gohan figured that they had come because Asuma needed to tell them something, but he didn't really mind their visit. He was hugged by Ino, which took him by surprise, but not disliking it at all. Chouji bumped his fist with the saiyan's, opening Gohan's hand after doing so and leaving a chip in his hand. "Enjoy." The Akimichi said as he gave him a friendly smile.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, went directly to greet Asuma, ignoring the presence of the saiyan. This affected Gohan slightly, but he preferred to let it flow, as he believed time would solve things.

"Alright, so I called you here because we need to organize how your training will be managed during this month." The jounin explained. "Chouji and Gohan will be included in our training even though they didn't make it into the final part of the exams." He let a cloud of smoke go out of his mouth before continuing. "Any doubts, objections?"

"No, Asuma-sensei." Ino quickly answered.

"It'll be quite efficient to train with Gohan, he's really strong!" Chouji excitedly said.

"Whatever." Shikamaru indifferently said as he looked away.

Before Gohan could object to his teacher's decision, Asuma spoke up. "It's settled then, we'll start by tomorrow, alright?"

"Alright!" Ino excitedly replied, being followed by Chouji and Shikamaru, who nodded in response.

Gohan hesitated, and a lot, but a kind smile from Asuma, along with the excited face of Chouji and the even happier face of Ino convinced him to accept, remaining silent, which everyone took as a yes. _Maybe I can show them there's another way..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter! Let me know what you thought in the reviews!
> 
> Anyways, I hope I can update more frequently, but for now, see you later!


	17. Shady Movements.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suspicious movements start to happen along the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back! After quite a while... hehe.
> 
> I've been really busy lately, homework seems to be unlimited, but I finally got some free time, so here I am. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to post anything last week, so I hope you can understand.
> 
> Anyways, here's the chapter, enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own Dragon Ball, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBZ, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).

"And what about Genma?" Raido asked, one of his eyebrows raising as he looked for his friend.

"Don't mind him, he trained the entire day with his team, he's probably sleeping by now." Hayate answered as he put his hands in his pockets and started walking forward through the street, his tired eyes glancing at the buildings in front of him.

"Man, he is turning into Kakashi..." Aoba replied, disappointed in how his friend had become into a boring man while still being quite young. He feared of ever becoming the same and decided to never take on a team of genin.

Night had come along with the glowing moon, the lights of the village illuminating the streets and insides of the buildings. Some villagers usually went out to eat dinner or to drink something, but there also were young jounin and chunin that also took advantage to rest from their quite tiring profession. This time, Hayate, Aoba and Raido had found the opportunity to reunite and have a fun time, but the absence of Genma was really noticeable for the trio, the only one able to not mind it being Raido, as the other two struggled not to go to his house and take him by force just to get the group back together.

"Whatever..." Raido said as he looked away. "Where will we go, anyways?"

"Maybe Ichiraku is good." Hayate proposed as he looked back at his teammates, noticing Aoba's new glasses. "Wait, are those new glasses?"

Aoba was taken by surprise, laughing nervously as he remembered how his glasses and nose was broken by the kick of a member of a terrorist organization. "I thought you had noticed from before..."

"I mean, they are quite the same, they're just cleaner, I guess." The lizard lover answered, turning back and continuing walking forward.

"Ichiraku is quite reliable, but we go there every time, don't we?" Raido was cut out as he noticed that his friend had stopped. "Huh?"

Hayate coughed before running back and beckoning his friends to follow him. The pair of jounin followed him behind a building that was at the side of the road they'd been walking in. Once in there, Hayate made sure no one had followed them, and went back to his friends, who were just really confused. "There's a genin from the Leaf talking to a jounin of the Sand, alone and in the dark."

"What?" Aoba asked, not understanding what was happening.

"You think something is going on?" Raido got his hand in his kunai pocket.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, let's just make sure it is true." Hayate said as he summoned a little lizard that held a scroll, grabbing the scroll and writing something in it before giving it back to the lizard, who climbed the building and ran away from the place.

"Huh?!" Aoba's confusion couldn't be greater. "You think a genin would be a spy?" He even laughed at such a statement. "Come on, be serious." His laughter stopped as his friends left him behind, going to spy on the suspicious pair, following them immediately after.

The jounin of the Sand, wearing a turban with a sheet that covered half of his face, talked silently to the genin of the Leaf, a silver-haired young man with glasses as well as purple and white simple clothes, who seemed quite discreet about doing so. Behind the wall that protected the bench they were sitting in, Hayate was hearing the entire conversation, while Aoba and Raido hid in the two buildings in front of the bench, checking on his friend. The jounin of the Sand was quick to notice the presence of the three, though, and decided to end the conversation and act as if they were talking about the exams, but it was already too late.

Hayate came out of his hideout, pointing a kunai at the jounin of the Sand in a firm position, his gaze going right into the man's only visible eye. "Surrender immediately, you are under arrest for conspiring against the village." The threat was evident on his voice tone.

A confident smile came out of Baki's face as his eyes closed. "Come on, you know you cannot defeat me." He felt the stung of the kunai as it went through his arm, but he ignored it. "Huh, you're more stupid than I expected."

Kabuto reacted almost instantly, but his punch was stopped by Raido, who had already reached the place, turning his eyes directly into the silver-haired's. Orochimaru's servant was caught by surprise as the one that stopped his punch disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving place for Kabuto to notice that the original scarred man was running towards him with his sword in his hand.

Meanwhile, Aoba had joined Hayate in his confrontation against the jounin of the Sand, who was now engaged in a fight to death against the duo of jounin of the Leaf. The sound of Baki's kunai blocking the lizard lover's sword were enough to block the sound of the Sand jounin pushing Aoba back constantly. After blocking many hits from the blade, the kunai finally broke, forcing Baki to block a last hit with one of his arms while he used his other hand to hit the other jounin's face, breaking his new sunglasses and winning some extra seconds to turn back at the lizard lover. His other arm went back to where Hayate was standing, landing a powerful punch at his chest and throwing him back.

Raido was having an even fight with the silver-haired ninja, struggling mainly due to his opponent being able to read his movements. Kabuto was standing close to the where the other fight was happening, surrounded by the two clones of his opponent, as well as the original one. Kabuto then created a chakra blade in his hand, which helped him to beat the clones quickly to engage a battle against the original scarred shinobi.

Then, what appeared to be a squad of shinobi from the Sand arrived at the place, which Baki joined quickly as he took the kunai out of his arm. Kabuto noticed this, throwing a smoke bomb and joining the squad of ninja.

"You arrived just on time." Kabuto said as he appeared from behind the squad's back.

"We've been watching over the village since the start of the Chunin exams, of course we came to help." A member of the squad said as him and his teammates started making hand gestures. "Now, it's time to erase your memories with this special genjutsu." The trio of jounin from the Leaf was caught by surprise by such a statement.

"I did not expect less from the Kurama clan." Baki said as a confident smile appeared once again in his face.

Aoba's and Raido's eyes widened as they heard the man's declarations, while Hayate just tried to respond quickly, biting his thumb and making some hand gestures before putting his hands down to the floor. "Summoning jut-"

Unfortunately, Hayate was too slow and failed to finish his technique before the genjutsu was applied in them, causing the trio to fall down to the floor, unconscious.

"The technique has been completed successfully, the invasion is not at risk anymore." A member of the Kurama clan stated.

"Had it not been for you and your clan and its hatred for this village, we would've been unable to continue operating secretly." Baki said, as his arm was being bandaged by one of the members of the squad. "We appreciate your services to the Sand, and you'll be rewarded."

* * *

The sun was intense that morning, very unfortunate for the genin that started their training that day. Team 10 was kind of lucky, though, as they had chosen a training camp with plenty of trees to create some shadows to stay in. Not minding that issue, training would obviously proceed as the sun isn't anything compared to the normal threats a shinobi has to face.

In the camp, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru were performing their special techniques on each other in order to practice them, Asuma was introducing Gohan into chakra. The young saiyan had asked for such thing as he found it interesting to know about it, although not forgetting his objective to show his friends the other way. The son of the Third was happy to have the saiyan with them, and he showed it through his facial expressions and the tone of his voice. The rest of the members were merely waiting for their master and teammate to start a more serious training.

Gohan, who was sitting down in the grass, with his typical purple clothes and messy hair, was quite concentrated in his new master's explanation.

"Chakra is the energy we have inside us, it is said that it is native from lifeforms, but it is also said that it was given first to the Sage of the Six Paths by a major power, we could say its origin is quite a mystery." Asuma explained, his hands supporting his words with gestures. "This energy is essential for every fighting capacity a shinobi possesses, as even the most basic taijutsu is based on said energy."

The saiyan nodded to show his understanding, letting his master continue after deciding to let him finish before he made any questions. For him, it would be disrespectful to do such a thing, so it was just one more reason not to interrupt him.

"There are several natures of chakra, basically types of chakra, but that's a more advanced topic at this moment, so let's go back to the basics." Asuma threw his cigarette and changed it for another one before continuiing. "As you already know, every living being requires of its respective chakra reserves, of which its capacity varies is determined by some specific characteristics that vary from person to person. Nevertheless, these reserves can be improved with training, which is what we'll work on today." Asuma turned to his back and beckoned the rest of his students to go where they were sitting.

"So we're finally starting?" Shikamaru said as he arrived, sitting down as far from Gohan as he could, which made the saiyan uncomfortable.

"Huh, you seem more motivated than you've ever been, that's weird coming from you." A confused Chouji remarked as he opened a bag of chips and started eating from it.

Ino sat down next to Gohan, smiling at him, then looking back at Shikamaru. This was seen by the saiyan as a response to what the Nara had done previously. "Yeah, that's not like you at all."

The jounin interrupted the conversation as he stood up, beckoning his students to do the same. After they followed his instructions, he raised his voice. "Team work is key to success in battle, so I don't think it would be convenient to have problems withing the group." Asuma glanced at Shikamaru before turning to the saiyan. "Whatever happened, you have to solve it, okay?"

Both genin nodded, not looking at each other at any moment. Gohan didn't even know what was happening with his teammate, but he was sure he needed to talk to him. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was affected by the clash of thought they had after the match of the saiyan against a shinobi from the Sound. Ino and Chouji just fought to relieve the tension between both, the blonde kunoichi noticing the unwillingness of Gohan of having such conflict while Chouji understood perfectly the Nara's problem.

The training went on with several exercises that aimed for an increase in the chakra control of the genin, while the saiyan warrior started to practice hand seals, resulting to be the first hard training he'd received in a while. Gohan showed impossibility for doing any jutsu at first, but then he started to show some progress as he found out the way to use Ki in a similar way the others used chakra, although it was very uneffective compared to normal chakra. The saiyan figured that he was just unable to use chakra and that chakra was something different from Ki.

He managed to create a couple of clones after several tries, but he started to notice the brutal waste of Ki it showed to be, rejecting the idea of continuing with that for a while and starting some physical training. Asuma was confused with the sudden decision taken by his student, but decided not to care that much and let him be, going back to his other students, that continued with the tree climbing training. As Gohan grabbed a couple of trees to train with them, the yells of a kid were heard from the distance. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance as he noticed that Konahamaru was the one that had arrived, for him, he was a smaller version of Naruto, and just didn't like the annoying atmosphere he carried with him.

Behind the brown haired kid, his two friends chased him with really concerned expressions; they wanted to stop their friend. Konohamaru ignored his uncle's greetings as he ran directly towards Gohan, his eyes determined. After he was ignored, Asuma noticed the bruises his nephew had in his arms and face, which lit his concern up, but before he could do nothing, the voice of the kid was heard once again.

"Gohan! Train me, please!" Konohamaru said as he pointed directly at the saiyan's face, his determination breaking and starting a slow transformation into frustration and tears. "The old man told me you were really strong, so please, train me!"

At this point, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino were watching the scene with confused expressions. Gohan couldn't do anything but smile nervously and scratch the back of his head. "W-why don't you ask Asuma-sensei, for example, he's a jounin and I'm no more than a genin..."

"But the old man told Yuichi that you had survived a fall from the sky, my Uncle Asuma would never survive that!" Konohamaru replied, catching Asuma by surprise as such information was revealed, he never imagined that Gohan would be the object that fell down from the sky a couple of weeks before. "That's why I want you to train me! I have to be the strongest Hokage ever!"

An astonished Gohan struggled to answer to that for a couple of minutes. "I-I mean, you're still in the academy, you aren't ready for training to the genin level..."

Moegi and Udon had already reached Konohamaru, grabbing him by the arms as he tried to resist the grip of his friends. Gohan was really hesitant of what she should do in such a scenario. Behind the scene, Ino was absolutely shocked at what the little kid had stated the Hokage had said, denying to herself that it was real, but being really unsure about the matter. Chouji remained silent after the chip he was grabbing fell down.

"Come on, you can't believe what this kid is saying!" Shikamaru said with an annoyed tone. "He and Naruto are probably playing a joke on us!"

Gohan beckoned Moegi and Udon to release the young Sarutobi, which they did with nearly no hesitation. The little kid fell down on his knees as tears started to come out of his eyes, his friends hugging him in response.

"I'm just tired of being weak, of being a loser..." Konohamaru said, snapping his uncle out of his shock. "And now not even the boss spends time with me..."

"What about them, though?" Gohan replied, referring to the two friends that were hugging the kid at the moment. "I didn't know you were the grandson of the Hokage and the nephew of Asuma-sensei, you surely have a really strong family." He continued, his aura turning into one that was calm thanks to the empathy he suddenly had as he remembered his own childhood.

"What happened that left you like that?" Konohamaru widened his eyes as he felt a hand place itself on his head, turning his head up and finding the face of his uncle. "Did someone beat you up?" The jounin received a nod from his nephew. "You know, that does not define whether you are strong or not, what determines it is whether you are able to learn from mistakes or not."

"But I still need to become the strongest Hokage ever, and I won't reach that at this rate." The kid said as he cleaned his tears with his blue scarf, his determination coming back.

"I'm sure Gohan can train you when you're older." Asuma answered, his voice calm, as he scratched his nephew's hair. "You should go back home and rest a little," the jounin turned to the other two kids, "make sure he arrives safe and sound, ok?" The kids nodded before taking Konohamaru back, leaving team 10 alone again.

Asuma now turned to Gohan with a serious expression on his face, being noticed by Ino and Chouji, who watched carefully what was to happen. Shikamaru just crossed his arms.

"Asuma-sensei?" The saiyan asked with a confused tone.

"Was that true? Were you the thing that came down from the skies?" The jounin directly asked, his tone having something different about it that the young saiyan could not really distinguish.

"Uhh..." Gohan hesitated before answering, he just wished that Konohamaru had never said such a thing. _This complicates things..._

* * *

In the outskirts of the village, a meeting between Orochimaru and his subject was held, where every member of the Sound present assisted, a certain group of four shinobi escorting the snake-like man. Team Dosu members were almost trembling out of fear, contrasting with Kabuto and his only left teammate, that remained serious and calm at the arrival of their leader.

"Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said bowing as his leader reached his position, "the mission has remained on secret, we're ready for the last phase of the plan."

"That's satisfying to here..." The snake-looking man turned to team Dosu, noticing their fear. "I'm guessing you failed in your respective matches, as I expected."

"No, sir, I didn't." Zaku answered, his voice shaky due to his fear.

"I see... Then I'll need one more sacrifice..." Orochimaru said to himself, discarding the possibility of using the shinobi with the broken arm as a sacrifice. "Maybe it won't even be necessary... Hiruzen is old and weak, after all..." The snake-like man started walking away as he continued thinking about his fight against the Hokage.

"Huh, who would've thought! Zaku surpassed Dosu." A four armed shinobi said, he was part of the squad that had escorted their leader there.

"It sure is surprising." The silver-haired ninja said as he adjusted his glasses.

"You're lucky, maybe you'll join us when Kimimaro dies, then." A blue-haired shinobi answered as he laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was today's chapter! I'll try to bring a chapter as soon as I can, so I compensate the delay, but I don't promise that I'll be able to do it.
> 
> Anyway, have a nice day and see you later!


	18. Toad Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sakura start their training as Nobuyuki is visited by Danzo in the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back, late, but I'm back!
> 
> I was once again very busy and it doesn't seem that it'll change, but anyways.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor Naruto, all the rights go to Akira Toriyama and Masashi Kishimoto.

Naruto had been quite mad recently, mainly because of Kakashi's decision of training Sasuke exclusively, excluding not only him but also Sakura, but for some reason, he wasn't anymore that day, he was even happy and excited. He was waiting for his teammate and new master to arrive, as he had waken up earlier. The heat of the place was quite strong, though, as the vapor left by the hot springs created quite a hot enviroment, but Naruto ignored it as he believed that something as insignificant as that could not bother a future Hokage like himself.

_I will become Hokage..._ He thought, smirking as he did, sure of himself and that he would achieve his goal. _You'll see!_

Soon after, he noticed the pink-haired girl walk towards the place, her green gaze filled with determination. This last detail noticed by the blonde boy caught him by surprise and called his attention as it was quite unusual from her. Normally, you'd see nervousness on her eyes, or maybe even fear prior to a fight, but such determination was something you would actually see in himself, not in her.

As she got closer and noticed her teammate's presence, one of her eyebrows raised as he eyes distorted into confusion. "Huh? You arrived so early?" Sakura asked with a calmer tone that the blonde genin had expected.

"Of course! I will become the greatest Hokage ever, after all!" Naruto yelled as he gave her a thumbs up and a confident smile.

She laughed softly before replying. "I'd like to see it, believe me!" She tried to emulate his tone, ending her phrase with a thumbs up similar to the ones the blonde boy did after every time he said he would become the best Hokage ever.

"Huh?" Naruto's face quickly filled with confusion as he wasn't able to understand that Sakura was imitating him.

"Sakura is imitating you, idiot." Ebisu said from behind the Uzumaki, making the blonde genin scream as he was surprised by the jounin. "Come on, don't tell you didn't notice when I arrived." His face denoted slight disappointment.

"HEY! Why did you do that?!" Naruto angrily asked as he got ready to fight the jounin.

"Oh, you don't want to fight me." Ebisu answered as he adjusted his glasses.

The pink-haired girl could only watch the two ninja ridiculously fighting, but she ended up interrupting them as she wanted to start her training. "Ahem." The jounin and the genin turned to Sakura before she continued. "Will we start our training?"

"Ah, yes, of course." Ebisu replied as he threw Naruto away from him and adjusted his glasses once again. "Ahem. So, I brought you here because today's training requires of the water of the hot springs." He grabbed his glasses and cleaned them as they had tarnished, then putting them back on as he continued speaking. "We'll work on the basics, so we'll start with the water surface walking practice."

"Above the hot springs?!" Naruto asked as his eyes widened immensely in shock.

"Yep." Ebisu answered calmly. "Shall we start?"

Sakura was the first one to go on, which surprised the jounin as the girl seemed different from what Kakashi had told him, and start practicing to walk on water. Naruto followed almost instantly, being even more excited than before as he saw his teammate's eagerness to train. Ebisu saw this and figured that everything would go along perfectly, but just then, he noticed that something was going on.

"Hey, you, old man!" Ebisu yelled, pointing to a man that was standing next to the bathrooms of the place, the one of the ladies, specifically. "Are you spying on the girl's bathroom?"

"Don't interrupt my investigation!" The man yelled back as he sat on a giant toad, his long and white hair moving as his head turned back.

"Dirty old man, stop spying on the girls!" Ebisu angrily yelled as he charged against the man, intending to defeat him, but he was quickly beaten by the giant toad, that used its long tongue to knock the jounin out.

"And he intended to defeat me? Ha!" The man laughed before turning back to what he was doing. "Now back to my investigation."

Naruto had gone out of the water to see what his master was doing, but only finding him unconscious in the floor, noticing who had done such thing. "Huh? Let's see... Secret finger jutsu: a thousand years of death!" The blonde genin inserted his fingers in his master's ass, confirming that he was indeed totally knocked out.

Sakura, who had followed Naruto, noticed the man that was next to the bathrooms. "I-is that old man spying on the bathrooms?"

"Apparently, Ebisu-sensei attacked him for that, but as you see, that man clearly won." Naruto said before turning to the white-haired man with an angry expression. "Hey, you!"

The man's white and long hair turned once again to reveal his face. "Me?"

"Yes, you!" Naruto yelled. "This guy was supposed to train me, and now he's totally knocked out here."

"And?" The frog turned to the kid, showing how the man answered carelessly.

"That you have to make something about it!" Naruto replied.

"I'm sorry, kid, but I'm in the middle of an investigation right now." The toad man answered, with a grin in his face.

"You mean spying on the girls?" The blonde kid answered, being heard by the girls inside the bathroom, causing them to run away.

"No! You just ruined my spying, I mean, my research!" The toad man said as his face showed true disappointment. "You little kid!"

"Dirty old man..." Naruto and Sakura said to themselves.

"There's nothing dirty on that!" The toad man yelled in response, scaring the girl and annoying the blonde boy. The toad he was sitting on suddenly disappeared into a cloud of smoke. "Anyways, I have to go to do other things, a novelist like me is always busy."

"Hey! Wait!" The Uzumaki yelled at the man, who had started to walk away, receiving a raised eyebrow in response. "What about our training? You have to do something about it!" Sakura was just remaining silent at this point, she just didn't want to be trained by such a dirty man, but she also didn't know what to do about Ebisu.

"I won't train anyone ever!" The man said, suddenly feeling he had seen the kid somewhere before, as he gave him a strange feeling of familiarity. "So, if you excuse me, I'll go!" A little tornado started to form all around him as he got ready to leave, but took his time as he tried to recognize the kid.

"No, sir, stop please!" Sakura, surprisingly for her teammate, intervened in the conversation.

The tornado stopped as the toad man gave the girl a chance to speak, but it was taken by the blonde genin, who wouldn't give up until the man accepted to train them. "We'll do anything you want if you train us, please!"

"Anything I want, huh?" He clearly knew what he wanted, and he showed it with his face. "Then, I want you to show me a sexy girl." He crossed his arms and smiled confidently.

"Like her?" Naruto asked, pointing his finger at the pink-haired girl and catching her by surprise, then igniting her anger. Fortunately for him, though, the toad man replied before he was hit once again by the girl.

"No, that would be creepy, I mean a real woman." His face now showed total perversion, which gave Naruto an idea.

"I think I have an idea," Naruto said, turning to the pink-haired girl, "but I need you to promise you won't kill me."

Sakura doubted at first whether she should forgive whatever the her blonde teammate was about to do, but, after remembering her fight against Ino and her motivations, she figured that it would probably be beneficial for their training, deciding to accept it with a nod. Naruto nodded back before turning to the old man, making several hand seals before releasing the jutsu that Sakura already knew from before, getting a disappointed face.

" **Sexy Jutsu!** " He yelled as he was covered by a cloud of smoke, which dissipated to reveal the now feminine version of the kid, who now appeared to be a young woman with great attributes.

The toad man was instantly captivated and shocked with what he saw, his nose bleeding in consequence of such sights. The nose bleed caused him to fall down, but he was able to stand up in little to no time, nonetheless. He wiped the blood from his face and then proceeded to look back at the kid, who had already de-transformed. He cleared his throat, and after that, his two hands forming a thumbs up and his face turning into one of total approval and pervy happiness. "I liked it!"

"Will you train us, then?" Naruto excitedly asked.

"Hmmm..." The toad man got his hand into his chin as he started to think in something. "Only if you do something for me... he he he."

"That's enough, you're just a pervert! You pervy sage!" Naruto angrily yelled back as Sakura was already thinking of going back and training on her own and wait for Ebisu.

"Oh... I'M A SUPER PERVERT!" His face turned into one typical of a creepy, old and perverted elder. He laughed as he saw how Naruto's anger had given up into unexpectedness and even shock. "You're so funny, maybe training you won't be that bad." His tone turned into a calm and more serious one as he analyzed the boy's face one more time. "Is the girl coming, too?"

"Yes, sir, if that's not a nuisance, that is." The pink-haired kunoichi answered, with surprising good manners for the man.

_After all that and she still talks to me as if I could be respected, that's weird..._ He waved his hand in a careless gesture. "I don't care, you can come."

"And what's your name, sir?" Sakura asked. She had always considered it important to ask for someone's name as it was always polite.

"You can call me Jiraiya-sama." He answered with a big and confident smile on his face, but it was cut dry by the blonde genin, who intervened in the conversation.

"Nah, I'll call you ero-sennin." The kid answered as his two hands went behind his head restlessly, igniting their new master's fury and causing Sakura to laugh at the two of them as they started fighting.

* * *

It wasn't easy for him to stay in a hospital room while his teammates trained and one of them got ready for her match in the Chunin Exams. Although for as much as he wanted to go out and train along with them, he also knew that he'd be told about his failure in his preliminary match, and maybe even Neji would take advantage and make fun of him. He remembered how he was always rejected by many members of the clan, but he was fortunate that, for some reason, Hinata's father did accept him; luck that his father did not share, though, as the clan fully rejected him to the point that their house was out of the Hyuuga district. He still didn't know exactly why, but he had a certain feeling that it was because of her mother, who according to Genma was an Uchiha.

He turned his sight to the window of the white room, staring at the Hokage mountain, his limbs entirely bandaged. The door of the hospital room was opened, surprising the half-Hyuuga as he did not expect any visits.

"Oh, Danzo-san, it's you." Nobuyuki said, turning his sight towards the window once again. "I didn't expect you to visit me again."

"I'm just interested in the well being of a talented young shinobi, that's all." Danzo said with a calm voice, sitting down in the chair that was next to the bed the half-Hyuuga was laying on.

"Why would you think I have any special talent? I'm not like Neji..." The brown-haired half-blood said, more to himself.

"Neji Hyuuga is quite an interesting prospect, and you are right to say that you are not like him," his half-bandaged face showed no emotion, which only startled the genin more than he already was, but he was taken by surprise by combination of words that came out of his mouth shortly after, "because you are superior."

"Superior? To Neji? Why would you say such a thing...?" Nobuyuki was shocked at the man's statement.

"No one has ever seen a single person able to hold both the Byakugan and the Sharingan, that alone makes you superior." Danzo remarked, his calm voice now having a chance of mystery and something else that the genin could not exactly point out.

"I still was destroyed by that shinobi of the Sand..." The half-Hyuuga pointed out, as if he was trying to convince himself and the man that he was weak.

Danzo shook his head in disagreement, a strong snd serious expression in his face. "With the proper training, you will reach jounin level in no time."

This sparked the interest in the genin, as it was just what he wanted to hear, but he found it hard to believe. "I'm sorry, sir, but I just don't think I can ever reach Neji, he is just so talented and trains so much..."

"Join ANBU, and you will become one of the strongest shinobi in the village." Danzo directly offered, catching the injured genin by surprise.

"I don't think I'm ready for such a thing-" Nobuyuki was interrupted by the door, which was opened by his father, who was surprised to find Danzo Shimura, there.

"Oh, good morning, Danzo-sama." He bowed as he entered the room, leaving the present he'd brought to his son in the little table next to his bed.

The member of the council of the village stood up, thanking the man for his respect towards him. "Your son is quite impressive, you should be quite proud of him." He said with a friendlier tone than could be expected from him, catching even Nobuyuki's dad by surprise. "Anyway, I hope he recovers, have a nice day."

Once Danzo left, the father sat down in the chair Shimura had previously been sitting on, handing his present to his son. "How have you been?" His warm smile only made his son's happiness even greater as he opened the present he'd been given, revealing a pair of fingerless gloves with an emblem similar to that of the Uchiha, but it wasn't the same. "Those were made by your mother for you, but she did them too big for a baby and I decided to keep them until you were able to wear them."

Nobuyuki tried them on, them being still a bit big for his hand but not really being an important difference. "They fit perfectly." He said with a smile on his face. "Um, and, about mom..."

"You already know, don't you? It wasn't hard to figure out anyways." He said, his smile now acquiring certain nostalgia. "That also explains why you were able to awake the Sharingan... I never expected that."

"Nothing changes, really, don't mind it." He said as he looked at his gloves and then to his father. "Thanks for these, I like them a lot."

The man's long and brown hair moved as he went on to give his son a hug, being corresponded by the genin. The two of them had gone through a lot, so it was natural for them to have such esteem for each other, specially his dad, as his son was the only thing he had at that point. "I love you, my son."

Meanwhile, Danzo had already left the hospital, meeting with two ANBU who were waiting for him outside the place. Danzo beckoned them to escort him, which they obeyed without hesitation. As they walked, Danzo awaited for them to ask them for orders, but as they didn't, he decided to take the initiative. "The kid is not that convinced in joining ANBU."

"Is that so? Then what will we do?" One of the ANBU asked without moving at all except for continuing to walk.

"I'll try to convince him, but be ready to execute the assassination." Danzo coldly and firmly answered, his only visible eye as serious and emotionless as it could me. "It's necessary that he becomes one of my men."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was the chapter, hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> I'll see you when the next chapter is ready, hopefully this same week. Have a nice week!


	19. Meeting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asuma meets with the Hokage to ask some questions about his student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back, although I think I'm late again hehe, sorry.
> 
> Also, I have been a bit tired, so this chapter is a bit short compared to the others, so sorry for that. This chapter is focused mainly in team 10 and what Konohamaru did last time. I also wanted to tell you that there will be one more chapter after this before the Chunin Exams continue, so yep, it's getting closer. I've also been reading some reviews I've been getting and I'm thankful that they are constructive, I really appreciate feedback. Apart from that, I think there's nothing else to say, so you can start reading the chapter, enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball nor do I own Naruto, all I own are a couple of new characters I added to the story, all the other credits go to Akira Toriyama (DB, DBZ, DBS) and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Boruto).

"Of course it isn't true!" Gohan replied, his voice kind of trembling, laughing nervously after replying. "It's impossible for someone to survive such a thing, isn't it?"

"It is hard to believe, of course, but according to Konohamaru, Lord Hokage said it." Asuma started talking, more to himself, as he scratched his black beard, the smoke of his cigarette flying up to the blue sky of that sunny day. "I'd better ask him directly."

The atmosphere was quite tense, shock now having turned into concern or judging glares towards the saiyan, who could not do more than just hope that such a thing remained secret. Shikamaru was processing the possibility of such thing being true, only convincing himself that it was impossible. Chouji directly took that as a weird joke from Konohamaru, continuing to eat his chips calmly.

"It is impossible, of course it is," the boy with the pony tail spoke up as he remembered something, "but you have never told us where you come from, so you're still definitely hiding something." He turned to his master, who was still thinking about the matter. "He could be a spy!"

Asuma was snapped out of his thoughts by this last statement; he hadn't considered that possibility. "But why did Lord Third let him stay in the first place, then?" He whispered, still talking to himself.

"Come on, how could Gohan be a spy? He definitely doesn't look like one." Ino entered the conversation. "If anyone were to be spy, it would be someone like Kiba or Naruto, they do look like someone bad, the look bad."

"What do you mean? Looks aren't everything, and it's not like Gohan looks any better than Kiba or Naruto!" Shikamaru now turned to the blonde kunoichi, his eyes failing to hide his annoyance.

"I mean, Naruto is a really nice guy." Gohan said as he remembered the times he spoke to the blonde genin. "I don't think he's a spy." He grabbed his chin and his eyes adopted a confused appearance similar to the one that was common in his father.

Chouji now sat down to finish his sixth bag of chips of the day, taking advantage of the situation to entertain himself with something as he ate. Asuma finally reached a conclusion, starting to walk away as he threw his cigarette away and ignited a new one. "I'll be going to talk with Lord Third, you can go home, we'll continue tomorrow."

"Alright!" The Akimichi cheerfully said as he continued to eat his chips, inviting the saiyan to sit next to him, also offering him a chip as his teammate sat down next to him.

"Anyway, I won't bother with you here," Shikamaru turned to the onyx-haired warrior, his eyes rolling as he was annoyed by Ino, "the issue is with you."

Gohan was startled by the sight of his teammate, his messy hair moving as he stood up, thanking Chouji for the chips. He walked towards the Nara, his face as friendly as possible, but failing to hide his nervousness behind it. The genin with the pony tail crossed his arms, his expression only getting more serious and his eyes carefully analyzing every move made by his teammate. Ino stopped complaining about the Nara, having noticed how serious he seemed to be about the matter despite Gohan acting as friendly as possible under said pressure.

Shikamaru opened his mouth, having taken a couple of seconds to choose his words, his hands ready to either grab a kunai or to jump back and execute his best technique. He, not like the half-saiyan, was able to hide his nerves behind his emotionless eyes and annoyed face. "I know you're stronger than me, so there's no need to intimidate."

The half-saiyan raised his eyebrow in confusion, noticing that his teammate was actually getting ready for a battle against him, which only caused to back off and bow in a way of apologizing. This caught the pony-tailed genin by surprise, scratching his head as he tried to understand what was going on.

"I didn't mean to intimidate you, I'm sorry." Gohan said, going back to a normal position until after he spoke. This came out of both his education and his need to keep his powers secret, at least until it was absolutely necessary to use.

"Don't even bother, I don't care if you intended to do it or not." He kept his arms crossed as his face only showed how his annoyance grew bigger and stronger. "Just give me a reason to believe you aren't a spy." His voice, firm, penetrated in the saiyan's ears, which got him more nervous than he already was. Tension only rose as Gohan took his time to think of a response, taking only that for Shikamaru not to trust him. "What are you thinking so much about, it's not that hard of a question."

"I... I don't know, I just don't have any reason for being a spy." The saiyan said as he grabbed his chin, his eyes showing his thoughtfulness. "This village gave me a place to live in and even money to sustain myself," he continued babbling as the pony-tailed genin only rolled his eyes.

Once the saiyan stopped talking, to which Ino and Chouji cringed, the Nara took the chance to reply. "Seems convincing, maybe I was a bit paranoid, how troublesome."

"Told you he couldn't be a spy!" Ino intervened as she pointed her finger at the genin with the pony tail.

Shikamaru turned his annoyed eyes to the blonde kunoichi. "Asuma-sensei is still going to talk to the Hokage, we can't be sure until the Hokage says so."

"Let's forget that, we should actually go to eat!" Chouji cheerfully suggested as he got up. "I've run out of chips already."

* * *

It had been a couple of minutes since Asuma arrived at his father's office, sitting in front of the old man's desk and being watched over by his assistant, Yuichi Senju. He usually had trouble going there, not because of the stairs or something related, but because he was treated like anyone else would by his father, which only made him feel uncomfortable and even disappointed at times. Unfortunately for him, he had to get used to such treatment from his dad, as he held the most important job of Konoha, the job of the Hokage.

Hiruzen had no clue why his son had gone to his office, neither did his assistant, but he didn't really think about it that much, only wanting to finish it quickly for him to continue with his paperwork. A couple more seconds went on before anyone spoke up in the room, Yuichi remaining silent, the son of the Third not knowing how to ask his father about the issue, and The Third limiting himself to hearing as he knew it would be easier to end the issue quickly that way.

"Where did Gohan come from, exactly?" Asuma finally asked, his tone plain and his face serious, quickly getting his father's attention. "I'm just curious about it, he hasn't told us much thing about him."

"Ah, I see, that's the issue." Hiruzen said as a grin was drawn in his face. "We don't really know, if I have to be honest, but we presume he comes from another world, maybe another dimension." He smoked from his pipe, letting a cloud of smoke escape from his mouth.

"A-another dimension?" The son of the Third asked in shock, his serious expression breaking. "Is that even possible? There's no way it is."

The Third grinned once again as he smoked from his pipe, his grin suddenly turning into carelessness. "We don't really know either, but that's the best explanation we have to him falling down from the sky." Yuichi rolled his eyes at this behavior as he believed he wasn't being noticed by the old man, but he always noticed this type of gestures from his assistant.

"So it was true..." The jounin finally said after half a minute of silence, his hands falling down after having held his head as he searched in his mind for another possible explanation. Then, he remembered that, if he fell down from the sky, he should've survived the fall, sparking another doubt in him. "And, just how strong is he?"

"We don't really know," the old man smoked from his pipe, this time letting a really big cloud of smoke out of his mouth after he did, "but we presume he has to be, at least, in the jounin level, arguably in kage level."

"Excuse me, sir, but how can a kid of his age be in the kage level?" Yuichi interrupted, being caught by surprise by such a statement.

Hiruzen smiled confidently, having expected that question. "Easy, young man, it is not everyone who survives from such a fall, and having seen prospects such as Itachi Uchiha and Minato Namikaze, why wouldn't an even superior prospect appear?" He left his hat in the desk before he continued talking and smoking from his pipe, revealing his bald head.

"Comparing him to Itachi and the Fourth... That can't be right..." Asuma said to himself.

"It is, from what he has shown, at least." The Third replied. "Maybe in a couple of years he'll be comparable to the likes of the Legendary Sannin."

* * *

"You always eat that much?" A shocked Ino asked as she saw how much and how fast Gohan ate, surpassing by far what Chouji ate. _How is he so fit if he eats so much like that?_

The squad had gone to eat at the restaurant Asuma normally took them to after the training, the four of them being hungry after the short but hard training session their master had given them. Normally, Chouji was the one to order the most at once, but the saiyan always ended up eating the most as he would normally keep on ordering food as he finished his current plate. This had always shocked his teammates, given that his physical condition is so good, expecting that someone who ate like that would be incredibly fat.

"Yeah, I normally eat like this, why?" Gohan innocently answered as he was eating a giant bowl of rice.

Shikamaru cringed at his teammate's reaction. "Uh, nevermind." Ino answered.

"Aw, man, you always beat me at eating contests." Chouji complained as he rubbed his now filled belly.

"Hehe, sorry, I really can't help it." The saiyan said as he scratched the back of his head, finally having finished his meals.

"And who's going to pay all that?" Shikamaru asked, his face serious, one could say he was even concerned. "I don't think any of us has the money at the moment."

"Uhhh, maybe I can pay in other way?" Gohan answered, being heard by one of the waiters and instantly getting his attention.

The waiter walked to the table, and stood in front of it. "I see you'll wash the dishes again this week... When will you pay your meals?" He asked, annoyed.

Gohan laughed nervously as Shikamaru cringed. Chouji joined the saiyan's nervous laughing. Ino laughed softly, finding it funny how innocent Gohan seemed to be at times despite him proving to be quite mature for his age. Gohan noticed this and blushed slightly, causing some surprise in the blonde kunoichi, who up to that point had only once thought of anyone else apart from Sasuke in that sense, it having been the saiyan that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was the chapter, hope you liked it!
> 
> Remember to leave any feedback you consider necessary in the review section, otherwise, make sure to support the story with kudos or a follow, I really appreciate that kind of support.
> 
> I'll try to have the next chapter soon so I can start writing the final phase of the Chunin Exams sooner, as I know will have more free time to write. That's all for now, though, I don't think I'll be able to have next chapter ready today, so yeah, see you next week with hopefully two new chapters! Have a nice day!


	20. Summoning jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sakura continue their training with Jiraiya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I'm back with the next chapter! I hope you like it!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or Naruto, all the credits go to Akira Toriyama and Masashi Kishimoto.

The strong blowing of the wind shook the leaves of the trees and the grass in the floor, tiny bits of sunlight entering the forest through the trees while the majority of it came from the clearing next to the river. Next to it, a white-haired man, a blonde boy and a pink-haired girl were sitting, meditating as part of their training. The blonde's orange and blue clothing along with the red one of the girl stood up quite a lot in the forest, which the tall man did not share entirely as the only thing that stood up was his red vest, the rest of his clothing being either grayish or greenish. The three of them possessed a forehead protector, the tall man's one being bigger and thicker than the ones worn by the kids.

The man seemed to be accustomed to it, not having any problems with keeping a firm posture, neither did he with his concentration, characteristics also shared by the girl, although her concentration level still barely comparable to the one of the more experienced shinobi. On the other hand, the blonde genin seemed to have problems with concentrating, not even being able to stay still for more than 20 seconds. As he finally gave up, the blonde kid got totally distracted by the sight ofhia new master reading instead of meditating with them.

"What are you doing, ero-sennin? Why aren't you training us?!" Naruto furiously replied, snapping her teammate out of her meditation with said yelling.

"I have already meditated a lot." The white-haired man carelessly answered, waving them back to what they were doing.

"But what's the point of meditating, anyway?" Naruto's question snapped a vein from his master's forehead.

The girl was distracted by her teammate, whose question annoyed hair, lowering her arms and staring angrily at the blonde genin. "To improve chakra control by controlling the fluctuation of it in your body, Jiraiya-sama already said it." Every time she said 'Jiraiya-sama' she reminded herself of how much of a pervert he was, but she continued to call him that for mere education. "Idiot."

"See? The girl got it." The tall man continued to read as he spoke, his tone clearly trying to mock the kid. "You're just so dumb that you don't even understand words." He hid the lower half of his face behind his book.

Naruto's curious face now turned into an annoyed and angry one as, not only Sakura, but also their new master were mocking him. "Shut up, old man!" He started yelling, standing up to point directly at the man, who only laughed at his reaction. "And don't even let me get started with you." He turned to the girl, who was laughing softly at how angry the blonde kid had gotten.

"If only you could see your face!" Jiraiya said as he continued laughing, this time even lowering his book so the blonde genin was able to see his laughter more easily. He calmed down relatively quickly, though, as Naruto had quickly asked for the training. "Well, then, we'll proceed with your training."

The three of them stood up, the white-haired man leaving his book in the floor as Naruto stretched due to having been sat down quite a while. Sakura cleaned her clothes form the bits of dust and grass that had gotten in them while she was sitting down.

The blonde boy got his hands to the back of his head, using them to hold his head. "What will we do now? Will we finally do something interesting?"

Jiraiya was mocked by this last sentence from the kid, but decided to ignore it for the moment. "We'll warm up with the walk on water training, and as you must be able to suppose, that's why I brought you to a river." He got a victory grin in his face as he saw the concern in the boy's face. "Let's see if you're able to beat the river current."

Sakura didn't seem to have much problem with warming up like that, taking on count that, while being with Ebisu, she'd been able to practice it a bit. On the other hand, Naruto was quite concerned at first, but, as expected from him, he was quick to turn said concern into raw determination, his face now adopting that same face he had when he says he'll become the Hokage. The two of them entered the river at the same time, and from then on, they struggled to gain balance above the water.

"Once you achieve to maintain balance, we'll start to learn a really powerful jutsu." Jiraiya said as he sat down once again, grabbing his book as he did. This caught Naruto's attention, who asked what that technique was. "Ah, you'll see, but maybe you should concentrate in the present before thinking about the future..." He made some hand gestures before the current of the river became stronger.

And so, the training continued, with both genin struggling quite a bit with maintaining balance in the river, specially after their master made them even stronger. For the next hour, both struggled to even stay above water, being Naruto the one with more trouble, and to make it worse for him, Sakura was able to do it and even walk freely before he was even able to stand on water without much problems.

"Can I continue with the training, sir?" Sakura kindly asked, to which her master shook his head.

"Once he's done, we'll continue." Jiraiya said, inviting the girl to sit down and asking her for advice on his next novels, obviously avoiding those that were erotic novels.

Half an hour later, Naruto was able to walk freely, inspired by his frustration, only to fall right before getting out of the river. He swam to the shore, only to find his master's hand, offering help. He accepted the help and took his hand.

"That's weird, I though an Uzumaki would have better chakra control..." The white-haired man said to himself. _Could it be that... he truly is his son?_

"Huh?" Naruto raised one of his eyebrows in confusion, just as his teammate did.

"Can you take your shirt off for a moment?" Jiraiya directly asked, surprising both genin. "I need to confirm something."

As Sakura could do not more than just be totally shocked, Naruto, although ready to defend himself if necessary, obeyed. "What?"

The white-haired man scratched his chin as the kid took his upper clothing off, revealing the seal he was expecting. _So he really is the kid..._ He hid his hand behind his back as chakra accumulated in his fingertips. "I just need to get closer for a moment..." And just as Sakura was about to intervene, thinking something horrible was about to happen, the man hit the symbol in the abdomen of the kid with his hand with enough strength to send him back to the river. "Now you should be able to control your chakra better." He smiled innocently.

Sakura's jaw had fallen to the ground, utter shock painted in her eyes. Naruto swam once again to the shore, this time getting out by himself, a furious expression decorating his face. The blonde genin tried to attack his new master, but his kunai was deflected and his fist grabbed, only to be thrown to the river once again.

"And now, we'll continue." Jiraiya cheerfully said, his happiness being thanks to having found the kid and for being able to throw him to the water twice. "Now I'll teach you how to summon toads."

"What?!" Both genin answered, disappointment filling their faces.

Jiraiya took them farther along the river, which took them a couple of hours of walking next to the shore, finally stopping as they reached a waterfall. The forest stopped before the waterfall, it being surrounded by 2 big rock walls that, as soon as they reached the floor under below them, gave place to another river and more forest. There, a group of girls were having fun, which seemed to catch Jiraiya's attention.

"Alright, then, let's get started!" The white-haired man as he made some hand gestures before a cloud of smoke suddenly appear, revealing a toad that carried a giant scroll. "First of all, you have to sign in here." He opened the scroll and showed them where they needed to sign.

"Um, Jiraiya, maybe you should ask the elders about this first..." The toad suggested as the kids were told by their master that they needed to use their blood to sign.

"Don't worry." He softly said, making sure the kids weren't able to hear them. "He is the legacy of the Fourth, my student, he is to trust."

"I see... But what about the girl?" The toad asked once again, catching the white-haired man by surprise.

"Uh, good point." He nervously said as he scratched the back of his head. Unfortunately for them, once they were going to stop the kids from signing, they had already finished, Jiraiya only wishing for the elders not to kill him once they found out.

"Now you should be able to summon toads, have a nice day." The toad said as it grabbed the scroll, disappearing into another cloud of smoke.

"And how does this work? Is it an advanced jutsu? Does it require much chakra?" As the pink-haired girl started asking questions, the man stopped praying for his life, turning his attention to the kids.

"It is quite an advanced technique, but you'll have the honor to learn it from Jiraiya-sama!" He answered, dancing before posing as he said his name. Once he noticed that his new students had cringed, he coughed and got back to a normal posture. "The way you execute the jutsu is quite simple, but the real challenge here is to have the enough chakra control to apply the exact amount needed for each type of toad. Let me show you." He bit the fingertip of his thumb. "And after this, you make this hand seals." He proceeded to make the hand gestures, making sure it was slowly enough for the kids to see them. After this, he got the hand of which he had bit the thumb and put it down to the floor, causing several seal like signs appear in the floor as soon as he spoke. " **Summoning jutsu!** " And just like that, the same toad he'd been standing on when he defeated Ebisu appeared from a cloud of smoke.

Jiraiya beckoned them to repeat the process, sitting down once they started trying, expecting them to take some time to get the gestures right, which they did. After a couple more attempts, Sakura was able to summon a little toad, which caused her tenderness, grabbing it and petting it as the little toad could do not more than sigh. On the other hand, Naruto was suddenly able to use crazy amounts of chakra, being able to summon a gigantic toad, whose appearance caused both Sakura and the little toad to be thrown away. The white-haired man saved the girl from hitting a nearby tree, the toad still being between her arms.

"This will be a mess." Jiraiya said as the gigantic toad seemed to try to get the kid off his head.

* * *

After he'd summon the giant toad, Naruto was able to calm it down, but that was after a while of resisting his grip in its head. He then fell unconscious and was given to his master by the toad. He was taken to the hospital and was now being looked over by Shikamaru and Sakura. It had been a week since the incident, which concerned everyone that knew him. He'd received visits from almost everyone that knew him, and that day, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gohan and Sakura had gone there. Unfortunately, though, Gohan and Chouji hadn't been able to witness the moment the blonde kid woke up as they had gone to buy some food.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru exclaimed, both his face and the girl's in front of him showing surprise and relief.

"Huh?" The blonde genin asked as he rubbed his eyes, noticing that he was in a hospital. "Where am I?"

Sakura hugged him. "I was worried, I thought you were never waking up again." She said, ignoring her teammate's question.

"You are in the hospital," Shikamaru answered, "you've been unconscious for a week. We really thought you were dying."

"A week..." He said, still sleepy as he had just woke up, but he processed it as soon as stopped hugging him. "A WEEK?! When is the final phase?!"

"In a couple of days, I believe." The genin with the pony tail answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter, hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> See you soon!


	21. Chunin Exams: Shino vs. Zaku!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final phase of the Chunin Exams start!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm back after a couple of weeks, hehe. I'm sorry, it's been quite busy recently, and I've spent nearly all my free time (which isn't much ;-;) playing Genshin Impact, so I hope you understand.
> 
> Anyways, here's chapter 21, and we've officially caught up in chapters with the original version! As well as officially started the final phase of the Chūnin Exams hehe.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

As the sun entered through the window of his room, the half-blood saiyan had already woken up. He'd already prepared his breakfast, one of his favorite plates, actually, a bowl of rice with eggs above it. This plate was called just like him back in his world, he wasn't sure if it was the same in the one he'd been living on for the past few weeks. Eating that plate gave him some nostalgia from past breakfasts with his family, when his mother cooked it to him.

His plate was on the table, close to the little kitchen he had in his apartment. In that same table, a pile of books stood out, books that Gohan had read in search for a possible way to go back to his home. He really hadn't taken much time to think about his situation and being stranded in his world, he just worked hard to go back and fix the problem as fast as he could. One thing started to feel wrong, though, that for as much as he read and researched, he could not find anything that got him even remotely closer to finding an answer. There, though, is when it hit him. He could possibly be stranded there forever.

_Nah, they'll take me back with the dragon balls anyway._ He tried to convince himself. _Maybe time here goes by faster than in my world, that's why they seem to be taking so much time._

As he thought, he noticed that he'd already finished his meal, so he went back and washed the bowl he'd filled at least five times before. He had already got used to cook lots of food for himself, figuring that it would be cheaper for him to cook than buying food constantly.

While he washed the dishes, he continued thinking, even though he didn't want to, about his situation. He tried to imagine forming a life there, which he had kind of done already, but maybe going more serious. He thought of all the friends he'd made up until now, all the people he's known, and yet he was quick to reject it. He still preferred his life back in his world, but deep inside, he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to go back, and deep inside, he started to get ready for it.

As he finished washing the dishes, he got himself ready. He had already taken a bath and changed his clothes, so he only needed to brush his teeth and make sure he looked decently good. As he brushed his teeth, he noticed that his left arm still had a noticeable scar due to the blast received from Cell, which made him find the net shirt he wore under his normal shirt really useful at hiding said scar. As he finished, he left his hair messy and left for the arena where the Exams were being held. He really wasn't enthusiastic about it, but he wanted to support his new friends, as they had supported him back when he surrendered.

* * *

As Gohan arrived at the arena, he noticed how big it was, which surprised him as he had never really had the opportunity to go to one. He also noticed that he hadn't been the only one to wake up early that day, as the arena was already full when he arrived, and everyone was ready for the event to start. It was only then when he noticed how big of an event the Chūnin Exams truly were, which made him upset.

He met with his teammates and master right before heading to his seat along Chouji. That month of training had surely made them improve, but it had been quite a soft training for him, which did no more than help him realize the difference between himself and his teammates. During that month, Asuma helped Gohan understand chakra fully, although the half-saiyan still found it improbable for him to ever try to imitate such energy flow with his Ki. After his lessons with the son of the Third, he compared the Ki and Chakra and found that Ki seemed to be much more of a simple and stronger energy than the more complex and yet weaker chakra.

What he hadn't noticed up until meeting them before the exams, is that he'd grown closer to his teammates during that month. He'd started to worry about them, and there was no exception knowing that two of them would be forced to battle to death against another one of their level.

"If anything happens, I'll intervene in the fight." Gohan said, his voice and face serious, but clearly concerned for his now friends.

"Well... That would be against the rules, you know..." Asuma scratched the back of his head as he smiled nervously.

"Yeah, you'd only get us disqualified." Shikamaru said with a dull tone, yawning afterwards product of him not being accustomed to waking up early.

Ino laughed softly at the concern of the strong-looking saiyan. "Don't worry, Gohan, we've trained a lot this month with you and Asuma-sensei, we surely have become stronger!"

"Uh, I'll try not to, then, but I don't promise anything." Gohan said as he crossed his arms, his concern remaining intact.

They talked for a couple more minutes, now about the matches and what they should take to account during them. Gohan, Chouji and Asuma said goodbye to their teammates and students, respectively, as the time of the matches was already getting close. The half-saiyan hoped he was able to go where the remaining candidates to become Chūnin were so he could support them more closely, but in the end he thought that it wasn't all that necessary.

When Asuma, Chouji and Gohan reached their seats the Hokage had already started to talk. Lord Third was sitting up in a balcony that stood at a higher level than the rest of the seats of the gigantic stadium, having a better view of the entirety of the arena in which the genin would fight in that day. Next to his own seat (which was bigger than a normal seat for normal people), the Kazekage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Sand, was sitting in an exact copy of the Third's one.

Gohan paid close attention to the old man as he spoke, everyone cheering at him after every single sentence. He felt it weird for people to love a leader that would allow kids to fight to death with other shinobi, maybe he still failed to fully comprehend the world he was currently living in, but at least he was still able to empathise with people from there.

"Now, proceeding to announce the matches prepared for today, which weren't revealed until today for purposes related to the characteristics we want in our chūnin." The Third grabbed a scroll and opened it as he cleared his throat. "The first match will have Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka face each other. Please, go into the arena so we can proceed with the match."

Inside the special balcony for the participants, confusion grew as Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. They started looking for the Uchiha, some even going out of the special balcony to see if he was lost or if he hadn't seen the entrance of the balcony in the hall of the stadium, but everyone still failed to find him. Once they met back, they started theorising.

"Is he late or something?" Kiba asked as he scratched the back of his head through his sweater.

"I have no idea." Ino said, disappointed as she wouldn't be able to see him fight.

"He's late, we only have to wait for him for a bit!" Naruto cheerfully said, excited to watch his teammate and friend compete.

Back up in the balcony of the Third, Yuichi, the assistant of the Hokage, informed him that Sasuke had not arrived on time for his match. Hiruzen thought about the situation for a couple of seconds before nodding and taking a decision.

"As Sasuke Uchiha is yet to arrive," the old man said, catching the attention of Daichi in the audience, who was surprised that Sasuke had been late, "the first match will be postponed and we'll go on with the next one." He opened the scroll once again to check for the second match. "Shino Aburame, from the Leaf, and Zaku Abumi, from the Sound."

Shino was quite confident in himself, and everyone there was able to notice, surprising even Naruto for his attitude even in the last phase of the exams. On the other hand, Zaku was more confident this time than he'd seemed to be in the preliminaries, being able to at least hide his nervousness. Now with his arms recovered, the genin from the sound had the capacity to exploit the full potential of his special technique.

Both shinobi went down to the arena through the stairs that were in a side of the balcony, some large staircase that went directly to the door that entered the arena. In there, Hayate, the referee, waited for them patiently. They positioned themselves one in front of the other, adopting their respective fighting stances. Zaku's serious glare broke for a second because of the coldness that came from his opponent, his black glasses doing no more than increase that coldness. Hayate gave the signal and the genin with the glasses started to attack almost immediately.

A rain of kunai was easily avoided by the sound genin, which helped the Aburame to have a better idea of the level of his opponent. Zaku was the next one to attack, throwing a couple of shuriken to distract his opponent, and hiding the sound of his movements with soft sound waves thrown by his arms. Once Shino had deflected the shuriken, the sound genin was nowhere to be seen, at least until his back was kicked. The hit threw him slightly in front, but he was quick to react to the attack, blocking his opponent's punch with his kunai.

Shino hardly ever forgot the way someone fought, and that's what surprised his teammates as a powerful shockwave hit him directly, as if he had forgotten the signature technique of one of his possible opponents in the final phase of the exams. The sound wave forced Shino to fall back, giving Zaku the confidence he'd lacked at the beginning of the fight. From this point on, the sound genin would try to not give a chance to his opponent.

Zaku ran towards his opponent, throwing a kunai when he was quite close, it being blocked by a cloud of bugs, and throwing himself to the side of his opponent, letting another powerful sound wave out of his hand to, once again, hit his opponent directly. At this point, Shino was covered by a gigantic amount of bugs that seemed to come out of nowhere. The sound genin now extended both of his arms towards the barrier of bugs, obviously planning to destroy the defense with his sound waves.

In the balcony of the participants, a great sensation of surprise and concern started to grow within the Leaf genin, while the Sand genin seemed to be quite unsurprised of what was happening. Even back in the audience, Hinata and Kurenai were really worried of what could happen to him. Something catched Chouji's attention, though, Gohan seemed to be more confused than surprised, as if he knew something that they didn't. He did, of course, as he could feel that Shino's power was higher than his opponent's.

"What's happening to Shino? He seemed quite calm at the start..." Kiba confusedly said, more to himself than to anyone else.

Ino shook her head, not being able to explain what was happening. "I have no idea."

"He's probably letting the other guy get overconfident, so he can easily counter attack and win." Shikamaru said as he held his hands behind his head, quite relaxed. "I assume that's the reason why he hasn't used his bugs that much."

"I see... So maybe those trees are already filled with bugs?" Lee said, thoughtfully, as he scratched his chin.

"That's just one possibility." Shikamaru responded.

Gaara and Neji ignored the conversation as they limited themselves to watch the match, both of them already wanting to have their own matches. Temari, on the other hand, was surprised by the assumption of the Leaf genin with the pony tail. Naruto didn't even notice there had been a conversation, his thoughts already being too busy in understanding the match itself.

"But what if he doesn't have a plan?" Shiho suggested, gaining everyone's attention, except for Naruto's, Neji's and Gaara's, that is. "I mean, he already used his bugs, and a large amount of them, so that isn't a valid argument anymore..."

"He surely has way more, he's Shino, after all." Shikamaru calmly answered.

"She has a point, though." Temari intervened, surprising the girl with the glasses. "That barrier surely has many bugs forming it. I don't think he can fit much more bugs in his jacket."

Before the Nara could respond, a giant stream of bugs came out from the barrier, causing Zaku to throw his sound waves quickly, out of surprise, and missing one of the shots. One did land on the stream, even being able to stop it at first, but it went on and hit the Sound genin directly in the abdomen. Subsequently, the black shadow of bugs absorbed the body of the Sound genin, not taking much time for two powerful sound waves to be shot out from it, opening to big holes in the shadow and being able to escape the swarm of bugs.

As soon as Zaku tried to shoot his sound waves, he figured he was unable to, and instead, he felt an increasing pressure in his arms. Shino smirked behind the turtle neck of his jacket, waiting for his opponent's arm to explode. His smirk was quick to disappear, though, as the bugs inside the mechanism were thrown out by the sound waved, and now, his opponent would not make the same mistake.

Shino was forced into a more one to one fight, his plan A already having failed, although it had managed to do something, it had damaged the insides of his arm and now the waves were weaker. The bug expert noticed that he was too slow for his opponent, because Zaku put his hand directly in his ear, and he was suddenly dizzy and only heard a whistle-like noise.

From the outside, the damage to Shino's left ear was clear. Blood covered almost the entirety of it, while the shot of sound had been enough to make him fall down on his butt. Anyways, Zaku could not enjoy this sight for much, as the bugs attacked him in response, now not only entering inside his arms, but also inside his ears, mouth and nose. The Sound genin's eyes widened in utter horror as the bug expert stood up, blood still coming out of his ear, looking directly at him.

"Surrender now, or die a horrible death." Shino said with his cold and creepy voice.

"I prefer to die than to surrender." A clearly scared Zaku responded, standing up in one last try to knock his opponent out.

Unfortunately, as soon as he placed both of his hands in Shino's ears, the bugs knocked him out from the inside, but causing a domino effect and shooting the sound wave from Zaku's hands. Now Zaku was unconscious and Shino was almost deaf and incredibly dizzy. Zaku started to fall down through the bug expert's chest, and as the last insect came out from his body, he was already in the floor.

"Zaku Abumi has fallen unconscious, the winner is Shino Aburame!" Hayate announced, gesturing his hand towards the genin with the black glasses, who let himself fall down as soon as he saw this.

The audience cheered after a thrilling and intense match, which increased the expectations as this had just been the first one. The participants were all amazed by how intense the battle had been, specially Naruto, who was just shocked at how good Shino really was. Kiba cheered for his teammate, as well as his master, Kurenai, back in the audience, although Hinata was worried for her teammate.

Gohan, however, was shocked by the injuries the genin had received. He never thought that this competition would exceed the likes of the World Tournament back in his world, but this had been even worse than any story his dad had told him. Asuma put his hand on the half-blood saiyan's shoulder, giving him a smile and patting his back afterwards, and this helped Gohan calm down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter!
> 
> Remember to leave a follow (or favourite) if you liked the story! Also, you can leave any feedback in the review section, so feel free to give your opinion.
> 
> Anyways, hope you have a nice day, and see you soon!


	22. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan hears the voice of his father as the match between Ino and Shiho is about to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, how are you doing?
> 
> So, sorry for taking so long, I now have more free time and I'll try to write a bit more to compensate these weeks, so yeah. Anyways, here's the second match of the Chunin Exams! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DB nor Naruto, all the credits go to Kishimoto and Toriyama.

With severe injuries, Shino Aburame and Zaku Abumi were taken by medical ninja to the nursery. Shino's eardrums had ruptured, causing him to lose considerable amounts of blood by the minute, consequence of the enhanced sound wave thrown at both his ears, which also worried the medical ninja as his brain could've also been damaged in the process. Zaku, on the other hand, had been victim of a massive bug infection, causing him a severe loss of energy and an internal hemorrhage, which resulted in him falling unconscious.

The Hokage was quick to announce the next match, surprising Gohan as he expected them to give more time for the genin to be taken to the nursery. The ones to fight next would be Shiho and Ino, two of the ones the half-blood saiyan had managed to establish a friendship with, sort of. He'd met Shiho all those times he went to the library to find something that could help him go back to his home world, until he surrendered, that is. Ino was his teammate, one that, as well as Chouji and Shikamaru (at times), had been really nice to him despite knowing hardly anything about him. This made it hard for him to support any of both, but he finally decided for Ino, having talked more with her and having promised her to watch the match.

However, when Gohan was going to worry about what could happen to both, having remembered the previous match, he heard a familiar voice in his head. He didn't take long to identify it as he'd been waiting to hear it for several weeks. The sound of his father's voice filled his mind, distracting him and earning all of his attention. At first, he did not believe it was real, but he finally believed it as the voice continued calling for him. That voice was all he needed to exit the arena running at a surprising speed, for his new friends and villagers that is, ignoring everyone that asked him what had happened.

In a matter of seconds, Gohan had already reached the exit of the arena, and was already talking back, although he planned to run all the way back to his house.

"Dad? Is it really you?" The half-blood saiyan replied, the fact that he was still running being reflected in his trembling voice.

It took a couple of seconds for the voice to return and answer to him. "Gohan? Is everything okay? Are you okay?" A feminine worried voice, one that the half-saiyan knew very well, asked.

"Yes, mom, I'm fine." He answered, not helping but to smile tenderly as he arrived at his house. "I thought you were never going to find me."

"Of course we would find you! And we did, even though it took us this many years." Chi-Chi answered from the other dimension, confusing and catching Gohan by surprise as he entered his new house. "Although now that I notice, your voice hasn't changed that much, huh..."

"Many years...?" The son of Goku replied, although the volume of his voice made it seem as if he was talking to himself.

Chi-Chi didn't seem to notice the deep confusion his son had been thrown into by her phrase, so she answered naturally. "Yeah, it's been ten years, but I believe that we'll finally bring you back!"

"Ten years?!" Gohan exclaimed, his shock translating to his face and words.

Just before his mother was able to reply, the voice of Piccolo filled his living room. It had been quite a while since he heard the voice of his master, it was always good for him to hear. However, he was quick to lose the smile he'd gotten on his face. "What do you mean you aren't able to bring him back? Isn't the dragon able to do everything?"

"Everything within this realm, it seems." An unknown voice for the half-saiyan explained, which shocked Gohan. "I'd recommend you to start saying goodbye, I doubt Zalama will hold the communication much longer."

Goku tried to protest, but his voice was interrupted by Chi-Chi's crying, followed by the sounds of the legendary saiyan warrior trying to calm her down. Piccolo was heard trying to argue with the unknown man, but he was simply ignored after one extent. Then, only Chi-Chi's crying could be heard, to which the unknown man replied with some annoyance in his tone.

"If you will not say anything else, I'll tell Zalama that he can rest now, anything else you want to wish or want to say?" Gohan forgot any possible usefulness that wish could have and directly fell down to his knees, resisting his tears.

All those weeks spent trying to find a way to go back home, hoping the problem would solve with the always reliable dragon balls, lost. He never really took seriously the possibility of forming a life there, he had only followed the thought that he would leave soon.

"Listen to me, kid!" The rough voice of Vegeta called for him, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. "I'm really sorry that you aren't able to come back here, I really would've liked to see my son beat you up, but I hope you live a good life there, and of course, that you never stop training. You have to live up to the name of the Saiyan race!"

Gohan never really stopped thinking of what now was his reality, but he still was able to hear the words from the prince of all saiyans. "Thanks, Vegeta." He said, remaining silent for a moment, thinking of that training part.

Vegeta said no more and left space for the next one, who were his parents. The first one to talk was her mother, of course, her crying pushing her son to do the same. "My baby boy... This can't be."

Goku intervened, his tone seeming a bit more sad that it was usual from him. "Gohan... Is there a nice place to live? Is it similar to our home?"

"Not really, but I guess it hasn't been that bad..." Gohan said, leaving those things he really disliked for himself.

"I see... Well, I'm sure you'll find a way to get through it, you've always been really intelligent, you know?" He said with a nostalgic tone in his voice, as if he was remembering the little time he'd spent with his son. "I know I haven't really been there for the most part, but I really want you to know how much I... no, how much we love you."

Gohan was about to crack up as he replied. "Don't worry, dad, I love the both of you too..."

"Don't forget to finish your studies, if there is such a thing there!" Chi-Chi added with tears running down her face.

"Yes, mom, I think there is something like that here, don't worry." Once again, he omitted the fact that he really didn't know if there was such a thing as being a scholar in that world.

"That's good to hear." She happily said as she cleaned her tears, her efforts being useless as she went back to crying some seconds after.

Goku interrupted as time was running out. "We should let the rest say goodbye, let's go." He told his wife. "Bye Gohan, take care, we'll try to contact you again once."

"Goodbye! Remember to eat healthy!" Chi-Chi finally said.

Before Gohan could reply, another familiar voice showed up. He knew he would crack up in this one, but he would still try to hold it. "Hey, Gohan." The voice of his mentor, his father figure, filled his ears. "I never thought I'd be saying goodbye to you like this, I hope this could be different."

"Mr. Piccolo..." The half-blood saiyan struggled to hold his tears.

"I'd like to thank you for always seeing me as a normal person, just like I did back then, and also for always showing me such respect and love, just like no one else has done before." Piccolo said in a tone that made only Gohan realize that he was also struggling to hold his tears.

"No, I am the one who has to thank you for always being there for me." His voice cracked at times, but he still managed to hold his tears, for now. "Thank you for being my father, Mr. Piccolo!"

Gohan finally let his tears go out, his sobbing surprising the namekian, who got a nostalgic smile on his face, which was weird to see for the others. "Thanks, Gohan, really, you've always been a nice kid... I-I think it's time to say goodbye."

"Mr. Piccolo, thanks for everything!" The half-blood saiyan said, already in tears.

"Bye." The namekian replied in his typically cold tone, leaving place for the rest.

The rest of the Z-warriors, Bulma and even Trunks, the one of the present, and Goten, Gohan's brother, said goodbye, although these last ones didn't even knew him. It was a hard thing for Gohan to assume. It did not hit him up until now, the fact that he was stranded in a new and mostly unknown world for him, and also one whose system clashed with his way of thinking and the values he'd been raised with. He hadn't cared much about it, but it was because he believed, no, he was sure that he would be out of there in no time. As time went by, he started to doubt, but he never considered the possibility of staying there, so he didn't really care much about the problems he witnessed and recognized.

Now, his suspicions confirmed by his loved ones, he received a powerful hit from reality. And then, when the voices of his family and friends vanished, he collapsed, tears finally streamed freely from his eyes, having resisted his tears as much as he could even though he had already been sobbing. His hands covered his face, trying to wipe the tears at times, but eventually always letting them continue flowing. He couldn't believe he had been so naive to believe the problem would solve magically, or to think it would even be solved in the first place.

The next thing he did was think about his new friends, specially the time spent during the month training, in which they all grew closer. He could at least be glad that he now had someone to support him, or to talk to. What he wasn't that glad about was the fact that he had accepted to become a shinobi, a part of the army of the system he disliked so much. He did it because at the time he was sure he would stay in there for a really short time, so he just did what he believed would avoid inconveniences for his research. He was now forced to either keep on being a shinobi or to desert the village, although he decided to give it more thought later, remembering that the exams were still going on. He got up and went to his bathroom to wash his face, then got his looks fixed where they needed it, and drank a glass of water before finally leaving.

* * *

Asuma and Chouji observed in confusion and surprise as Gohan left his seat at an amazing speed. The son of The Third was astonished by the speed the kid had used to run out of the place. On the other hand, Chouji was too confused to even notice the speed his teammate had reached. After the saiyan escaped their sight, they turned to the arena, where the two kunoichi were already standing in front of each other. Chouji was confident that her teammate would win, but in the other hand, Asuma had his reasons not to be as sure, the main one being that the other girl hadn't fought due to her opponent surrendering.

Meanwhile, in the balcony of the participants, a discussion was going on about who would win the match.

"She struggled against Sakura, I don't know Shiho all that well, but I don't think Ino will win this easily, at least." Kiba said, his eyes concentrated in the arena.

Shikamaru gave the Inuzuka a disappointed look, to which Akamaru replied by growling. "Well, if Sakura had any chance before, it was because Ino was tired," he explained, gaining the blonde genin's attention, "now that she is perfectly well, she'll probably win and with more ease."

"What did you say about Sakura?!" Naruto angrily turned to the Nara, menacing with his eyes.

"You don't really know the girl, maybe she can win this." Rock Lee replied, turning for a moment to the genin with the ponytail, then back to the arena.

Shikamaru ignored the blonde and answered Lee first. "I doubt it, our training was probably harder than any of yours could've possibly been." He said, surprising some and annoying others. "If Gohan hadn't surrendered, he probably would've won without much trouble."

"How can you say that if you don't even know what we did for training?" Naruto angrily asked.

"Just watch the match and you'll see." Shikamaru finally said.

In the arena, the two kunoichi stood in their fighting stances in front of the other, between them was Hayate. Ino was confident on herself, result of the training with Asuma and her teammates. Shiho, on the other hand, was nervous, and this could be noticed by the referee from the slight tremble of her glasses. The referee scratched the back of his head as he assumed the outcome of the match, then giving the signal for them to start.

The first move was from Ino, who threw a barrage of kunai at the dark blonde kunoichi. This kunai were avoided by Shiho, whose next move was to throw a smoke bomb.

" **Shadow Clone Jutsu!** " Shiho yelled right after the smoke started to spread.

Ino heard nervously as several steps started to approach her, grabbing two kunai for her counter attack. First, two Shihos jumped on her, both aiming a kick in the exact same position but from different directions, to which Ino defended by jumping backwards and then stabbing them from behind. Both proved to be clones as they exploded into more smoke, which of course was taken as an advantage by the dark blonde. One more Shiho appeared from the smoke in front of the Yamanaka, kicking her in the stomach as the original one landed a low kick.

After falling down to the ground, Ino rolled onto the smoke that remained, standing up again once she was sure she was safe. _How is she so strong? She seems weaker than she actually is..._ The blonde kunoichi thought before grabbing two more kunai and running out of the smoke. _But I'm stronger!_

"Huh, she looks so thin, and yet she was able to throw Ino down..." Shikamaru mumbled as Naruto gave him a mocking look.

As Ino saw the silhouette of her opponent, she aimed a kunai directly at it, but it exploded into smoke, which she already expected. From behind, Shiho appeared once again, although she made an unexpected move by everyone, she threw a smoke bomb directly at the Yamanaka's face. Now smoke covered almost the entire space they were on, which made it difficult for the audience to see anything. The Yamanaka coughed several times as she tried to recover composure from the explosion of the smoke bomb, moving her head frantically trying to find the kunoichi of the glasses.

Back in the audience, the remaining members of team 5 watched in pridefully as their representative did an amazing performance. Yakumo could not do anything more than to cheer for her teammate and be amazed by her use of smoke. "Its just as if she had her under a genjutsu! She can't do anything but defend!"

"Wow, so in the end it did work to know how to focus chakra in her limbs..." Nobuyuki, who was sitting on a wheelchair due to the injuries he received in his match against Gaara of the Sand, said as the smoke covered the head of his teammate

Genma, the leader of Team 5, was the most proud of the girl with the glasses. "The way she uses her smoke is incredible indeed, as well as her chakra control," he excitedly added, "but I don't know how much she'll be able to keep the pace."

"Huh?" Nobuyuki turned to his teacher, having already lost any visibility of the arena.

"I don't think she has the resistance needed to keep such a pace for much more time, and if her strategy requires to keep her opponent from doing anything, then she'll have to end this quickly." He explained as he adopted a thoughtful expression, the senbon in his mouth moving slightly as he played with it with his tongue.

"Hey, Nobuyuki, can't you see through smoke with you eyes?" Yakumo asked, receiving a nod in response. "Then do it!"

As the half-blood Hyuga activated his byakugan, he was able to see what was happening inside the cloud of smoke. Ino was struggling to block the constant attacks she received, her right arm having already several bruises as the kunai she held started to break. One thing she noticed gave her motivation to resist as much as she could, though, and it was that the attacks got progressively slower and weaker, finally reaching the point in which she could counter attack.

Shiho noticed as she started to get tired, but when she checked the status of her opponent, she figured she hadn't injured her enough, so she finally slowed down and tried to think of something else. Unfortunately for her, Ino noticed that she slowed down, and run herself towards her with her kunai in hand. This scared the kunoichi of the glasses, causing her to avoid it late and get a cut from the kunai.

Next thing the Yamanaka did was turn around, her hands gesturing a little circle towards Shiho, which took the girl of the glasses by surprise. " **Mind Body Switch jutsu!** " She yelled, causing Shikamaru to smirk while Asuma and Chouji cheered back on their seats.

The kunoichi of the glasses was just unable to do anything about it and just fell victim of the jutsu. What she did notice, was that even after being struck by the technique, the user still had to take over the mind of the opponent, which she tried to resist as much as she could. Ino tried to raise the dark blonde kunoichi's hand for her to surrender, but Shiho wouldn't let her. At this point, the kunoichi of the glasses was already on her limit, being physically tired and having run out of chakra, so as she tried to resist, she figured that she had no possible way of winning this. Finally, Ino was able to surrender while being in her opponent's body, quickly leaving it and starting to celebrate as she was back in her own.

"As Shiho Hisajima has surrendered, the winner is Ino Yamanaka!" The crowd cheered as Hayate made the announcement, although not as much as they did for the last match.

Shikamaru smirked as Naruto looked away in annoyance. Genma already knew this could happen, but he still would congratulate Shiho for the amazing start she had.

Yakumo was disappointed by the outcome of the battle. "Aww, Ino is really strong, how unlucky for Shiho..."

"Yeah, who would've guessed Ino would resist that much? I wonder when she got so strong..." Nobuyuki said as he remembered the match between Sakura and Ino.

"Look." Genma said as he pointed towards the arena, getting his students to see as Ino seemed to be really tired while exiting the arena.

Just as Ino was close to reaching the door towards the nursery, a medical ninja offered to help her. This wasn't noticed by Asuma and Chouji, as Gohan had just arrived, asking if the match was over.

"Yeah, you're late." The Akimichi answered as he ate one of his chips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was it! Feel free to give your opinion in the comments! Also, if you want to support the story, you can also help the story with your kudos!
> 
> But anyways, see you soon (I hope) with the next chapter! :D


	23. Chunin Exams: Naruto vs Neji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chunin Exams continue with the match between Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I managed to get some more chapters ready for this week. I hope I post the next one soon!
> 
> Anyways, enjoy the chapter and remember:
> 
> I do not own DB or Naruto, all the credits go to Masashi Kishimoto and Akira Toriyama.

"Yep, you're late." Chouji calmly said as he continued to eat his chips.

Asuma turned to look at Gohan, waving at him while he gave him a kind smile. "Ino won, if you were wondering."

"Really? She's gonna kill me if she finds out I missed it..." The half-blood saiyan laughed nervously as he imagined how the blonde kunoichi would kick his ass.

"Why did you leave like that?" Chouji asked, his sight remaining in the arena, his bag of chips finally getting empty.

Asuma raised his eyebrows towards Gohan, asking the same questions with just his sight. The half-blood saiyan looked down, hiding his face, and therefore his emotions. "Nothing important... J-just remembered I left the oven on."

"Oh, you should be more careful the next time." The jounin said as he smoked. He knew it was something else, it was obvious even, but he didn't give it importance for now. The son of the Third observed as Gohan sat back down next to Chouji, then looking back at the arena, he'd already decided that he would have to talk to his student and gather as much information about him as possible, he had to be ready for everything.

The Hokage's voice filled the arena once again, everyone in the audience was expecting Sasuke's match to come next. "I've been informed that Sasuke Uchiha hasn't arrived yet, so we have decided to move his match to be the last." The crowd was disappointed about the announcement, but some still were excited about the rest of the matches to come. "Therefore, the next match will have Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga face each other."

"YEAH! Finally my turn!" Naruto yelled as he raised his fist up. He turned back to look at his opponent, remembering what he had done to Hinata. _He's going to pay._

_Huh, I wish I was the one to beat that guy's ass... I hope Naruto can do something against him._ Kiba thought, as he stared at the genin with the white eyes. _I'd have to beat Sasuke if I want to beat him, dang it... It's unfair, but Hinata..._

Lee observed with a serious expression as his teammate went down to the arena, calm and confident, but his face was filled with surprise when he noticed that same confidence in the blonde genin, who was even excited about the fight. _That Naruto had a good fight against that other masked guy, maybe..._

When both genin were already positioned in the arena, Temari spoke up. "That blonde kid is dead."

"Naruto?" Kiba asked, already knowing the answer.

Shikamaru turned his sight to the ground before looking back up. "I don't know, I know what the other guy did to Hinata, but Naruto has improved a lot." He laughed softly at himself before continuing. "I can't believe that I'm the one saying this, but maybe he has a chance."

"I doubt it, I don't think Naruto will be able to do it," Kiba added, "I hope he manages to, though." He finished, of course wanting his crush to be avenged by someone. The genin with the pony-tail mocked him with his eyes, knowing perfectly about his feelings for the girl.

Neji stared at his opponent with his arms crossed, his arrogance clear in his eyes. Naruto got in his fighting stance as Hayate crouched down, figuring he would give the signal soon.

"Anything you need to tell me?" The Hyuga mockingly said, his face remaining serious despite of his tone. This called even the referee's attention, who turned to look at the genin.

The blonde, once again, remembered what Hinata went through in her battle against the one standing in front of him. His fists clenched in frustration and anger. He raised his fist and pointed it towards Neji, who didn't even move a single bit. "I'll never forgive you for what you did to Hinata," in the audience, the girl nervously observed as the one she loved confronted her cousin, "that's why I promise I will beat your ass!" He yelled, his determination translating to his menacing stare towards his opponent.

Neji got in the fighting stance typical of his clan in response, several veins appearing in his face as the Byakugan was activated. _He's calm and even confident in himself... But that's better for me_. "I cannot wait to see your desperate face when you realize that your promise is impossible to fulfill."

"Naruto is dead, isn't he?" Chouji disappointedly asked as he grabbed another bag of chips he had kept under his green haori.

When Asuma was about to answer to this, Gohan interrupted, wanting to respond to that. "I sense a greater power coming for Naruto, way greater..." He explained, then imagine a horrible outcome the fight could have. "If something bad happens I'm jumping in."

"Just like previous matches?" Chouji sarcastically asked, then laughing at the face his teammate had gotten as a result of it. "I'm joking."

Gohan threatened his teammate with his eyes, causing Akimichi to smile nervously as he told the saiyan that the match had already started.

"Go!" Hayate yelled, his hair moving as Naruto dashed towards his opponent.

In his way to the white-eyed genin, the blonde threw several kunai at him, all being blocked by his hands with impeccable technique. Naruto did not flinch, continuing his attack by taking another kunai and trying to cut his face with it, also being avoided by the Hyuga genius in the last minute. This position was used against the blonde genin, his torso being uncovered and clean for Neji's hand to land a powerful yet precise hit.

Naruto jumped up to avoid it, needing to walk with his hands for a couple of seconds before standing up back again, just in time to dodge another hit from his opponent. The brown-haired genin continued with his barrage of attacks, each one of them precisely aimed at the blonde's chakra points, whose efforts in this battle were totally focused in avoiding every single one of those hits, as he was conscious that receiving just one could decide the match in favor of his opponent.

In the audience, Sakura and the rest knew that if the match continued like this, Naruto would eventually be hit by the Hyuga genius. In the balcony of the participants, almost everyone already gave the win to Neji.

_Damn it, damn it! I don't even have time to try anything against him..._ Naruto said as he tried to force his opponent's attacks to cause an opening for him to exploit, but his position and technique were almost perfect. He finally blocked one attack by hitting the genius' arm up, giving him time and space to jump back.

"Well, will you surrender already or do you want me to destroy you just like I did with Hinata?" Neji arrogantly asked. "It is my destiny to defeat you, and there's nothing you can do about destiny. That's the reality of losers like you."

Naruto ignored the comments of his opponent and dashed back at him at his greatest speed to try and turn the tables of the match. For some moments, Naruto managed to have the Hyuga genius blocking his constant and swift attacks, but he still managed to break the barrage with his open hand landing a hit in his left hand. The blonde was scared at first, but he was still able to move it. What wasn't as relieving was that he was now back to dodging the attacks of the genius.

Neji was about to say something to the blonde genin when his hand was suddenly kicked away by said blonde, pushing the genius back a couple inches. Naruto quickly jumped back and gestured several hand signs, creating a cloud of smoke from where 6 identical clones of Naruto emerged along with the original one. As they approached the white-eyed prodigy, they ran in a pattern that attempted to distract Neji from the original, but it proved to be ineffective because the genius was still able to foresee, dodge and block every attack him and his clones attempted. Naruto was finally hit by Neji, directly in the stomach, causing him to put his hands on his abdomen.

"And you want to become Hokage? Only an idiot loses his time trying to become something he can't." The Hyuga genius said, his voice filled with arrogance.

"Who are you to judge what someone can or cannot be?" Naruto replied, being quickly answered by his opponent.

"Do you think anyone can become Hokage? That you just need some hard work and that's it?" He asked, the blonde's eyes widening as he was caught by surprise. "They are chosen by destiny to achieve that. And there's only one destiny we all share, death."

" **Shadow Clone Jutsu!** " Naruto yelled as dozens of clones appeared all around him, all going after the Hyuga genius right after they appeared.

Neji easily defeated every single clone that reached him, finally running through the horde and landing a hit right in the blonde's chest. Clones started to disappear all around the arena as Uzumaki coughed up blood. Hinata gasped in horror as she saw what probably was the blonde's defeat, while Sakura couldn't believe he had truly lost so fast.

"I told you." Temari grinned at Shikamaru, who didn't answer and hardly looked back at the dark blonde girl.

The Hyuga genius retrieved his hand from his opponent's chest. "You are the original one, aren't you?" He walked back. "I told you it was useless."

Naruto struggled to laugh between his coughing, then disappearing into a cloud of smoke. This caught the genius and everyone in the audience by surprise, making Sakura, Hinata and Kiba cheer at the blonde as he ran from behind Neji alongside another clone.

"Impossible!" Neji said as he turned back, leaving his face uncovered for the blonde's punch to land on his face.

Unfortunately for Naruto, as soon as he landed the punch, the genius started rotating, swiftly creating a chakra barrier that threw both the original and the clone away from him. The blonde stood up once again, creating another 8 clones and surrounding Neji with them. This was only for Neji to repeat the same move he'd done before, although this time it also created an expansive wave that threw them away.

"This is the end for you." Neji confidently said as the clones disappeared at the contact with the floor. "You are no match for my 8 trigrams." He adopted a more offensive fighting stance as Naruto tried to recover. " **Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!** "

Naruto's eyes widened as he was swiftly attacked by Neji with his fingers, every single hit landing in the exact points the Hyuga genius wanted them to.

"4 palms!" The hits landed perfectly, which caused the blonde to scream with every one of them. "16 palms!" By this point, Hinata had lost hope, mainly because she knew what that technique was about. "32 palms!" The last hits landed and even Kiba and Sakura lost hope. "64 palms!" Shikamaru looked away as the blonde was thrown away.

Naruto was laying in the floor, trying to get up. "Ugh."

"I just attacked your 64 chakra points, surrender." Neji said, although he was ignored and then surprised as his opponent stood up. "Impossible!"

"I never surrender." Naruto struggled to even speak.

"Come on, surrender already, I don't have anything against you." Neji replied, already annoyed that the blonde continued to try.

"Oh well, I do have many things against you." Neji raised his eyebrow as his Byakugan deactivated. "Remember what you did to Hinata?"

"That doesn't concern you." The genius replied, the blonde starting to get on his nerves.

"You have no right to choose who is a loser! That's what I have against you." Naruto angrily explained.

"The Hyuga clan is built on hatred!" Neji yelled, finally exploding. "For decades, the main branch has practiced secret ninjutsu, known as the cursed mark." Neji removed his headband as he spoke. "It's the mark that represents a destiny some can't escape."

As the genius' forehead was shown to him, Naruto widened his eyes in surprise. "Is it that one?"

"I was only four when the high command of the clan marked me with their cursed mark jutsu." Neji continued, causing the blonde to look down to his feet. "Lord Hiashi Hyuga is standing somewhere up there, he and my father are twins, but he was born 1 minute earlier and he is the leader of the clan," he turned back to his opponent, "while my father was exiled to the secondary branch."

"And what's that mark for?" Naruto inquired as he looked back up at the genius.

"It's not just mere decoration, it is used to torture us when it is needed," Neji remembered the many times this effect was used on his father, "we live with the fear of them torturing us to death if we do anything that annoys them." The blonde genin was horrified to see this, and in the audience, Nobuyuki wondered why Neji had shown his cursed mark, one he didn't even had as he wasn't considered part of the clan. "We live to protect the secret of the Byakugan, which they possess. That's our destiny." He finished as he looked down in repressed sorrow.

Naruto remained speechless at the words of Neji. In the audience, Sakura was worried about her teammate while Hinata had already assumed her cousin would win. Kurenai tried to convince the girl that there was still a chance, but it was useless as not even she believed it to be possible.

"And this match is the same," Neji raised his head, looking directly at Uzumaki, "your destiny was decided when I was chosen as your opponent!"

Naruto raised his voice as his opponent put his headband back on. "You are mad if you think I'm believing that."

"You'll never understand it." Neji said before quickly attacking the blonde genin, landing a powerful hit directly in his chest and throwing him away again. "Referee, this is over." He walked away from his defeated opponent, causing Hinata to cover her face.

"Come on, Naruto! You can do this!" Sakura yelled from the audience, catching Gohan's attention as they were sitting in the row in front of theirs. The pinkette remembered their training with the ero-sennin and she just couldn't believe that he was going to lose.

"There's no way Naruto is losing, I can still sense a great energy in him." Gohan said, catching his teammate's, teacher's and everyone else's around him attention.

"Hmm, maybe its..." Asuma couldn't finish as he was interrupted by the blonde genin, who stood back up.

Neji turned back at his opponent, not believing that he was actually able to continue fighting, although only to find Naruto covered in a giant orange aura of chakra. His eyes widened in surprise at such sight, activating his Byakugan once again and grabbing a kunai to finish off the blonde genin.

"There it is." Gohan said as the blonde grabbed a kunai of his own. He distracted himself by thinking of what happened just some minutes before. _Once this ends, I'll think of what to do._

Sparks came out of the kunai as both clashed with great strength and speed. Neji noticed that his opponent's attacks had gotten stronger and faster, even surpassing him, which totally surprised him. Finally, the genius was pushed back by one punch from the blonde genin, who was now in full control of the fight.

"Maybe the Hyuga clan has marked your destiny, but not mine." Naruto ran towards the prodigy, both kunai clashing once again as Neji tried to create his chakra barrier. "And I'll prove it to you when I become the strongest Hokage ever!" The collision of Uzumaki's orange chakra and Hyuga's blue chakra barrier resulted in an explosion, the smoke blocking the sight for some moments.

Hayate tried to see through the smoke, trying to find a winner, finally managing to spot Neji, who was struggling to stand up, and Naruto, who was laying in the floor. The lizard expert was disappointed by the outcome of the fight, expecting the blonde to win, then raising his hand with intentions of announcing the winner. His surprise was great as Naruto jumped out of the floor, punching his opponent in the chin. As Neji fell, Naruto could finally rest a bit, his nails bleeding due to him digging a hole under the floor.

"I should've guessed you would use the shadow clone jutsu, that's your specialty after all." The white-eyed prodigy said as he looked in astonishment the silhouette of his opponent, now victorious.

"You know, I failed the clone jutsu in every exam I made," his blue eyes stared deeply into his opponent's, "my clones sucked, believe it!" Neji remained silent, not knowing what to answer to that. "So don't come at me with that destiny bullshit, stop telling me that you can't change what you are, because you can, and at least for me, you aren't a loser."

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate announced, the crowd going crazy at the match they had just seen.

"Let's go, Naruto!" Sakura yelled in celebration, Hinata uncovering her face just to see if her crush had truly won.

"Impressive, are you some kind of fortune teller?" Chouji asked, turning to his teammate.

Gohan laughed in response, shaking his head while he continued laughing. "Wish I was." He still believed that his ki sensing ability would prove to be useful for many things in that world, specially now that he was the only one able to.

"He's just able to sense energy, its not like he's been keeping it as a secret anyways." Asuma replied as he turned to both of his students, giving the saiyan a mocking look.

"I hope you teach me that ability." Chouji said with a big smile on his face.

In the balcony of the participants, great shock was felt by every one of them. Lee couldn't believe that his rival was beaten by a rookie, his eyes still widened even minutes after the referee announced the winner.

"Told you." Shikamaru said as he imitated the tone she had previously used on him, causing the kunoichi to look away in defeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was it for this chapter. It was basically the same that happened in canon, but soon things will start to get interesting.
> 
> Two more matches in the next chapter!
> 
> See you soon!


	24. Chunin Exams: Rock Lee vs. Gaara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The exams go on with the matches between Shikamaru Nara and Temari of the Sand, and Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back and I want to clear some things hehe.
> 
> I know I said before that I would be able to update the story more frequently now that I would have more free time, but I found myself to be really busy last week, so that's why I didn't post any new chapters, hope you understand ^^'. Anyways, I should be able to update the story more frequently now, as I believe I won't be that busy anymore for a couple of months at least.
> 
> That said, here's chapter 24! Hope you like it and remember:
> 
> I DO NOT OWN DBZ NOR NARUTO!

"Continuing with the exams, we'll proceed to the match between Shikamaru Nara and Temari of the Sand." Hiruzen announced, interrupting the cheering from the crowd. Once he did, he sat back down. "You've been quite silent, Kazekage."

The kazekage turned his glance to the Hokage, noticing how Yuichi was staring straight at him. "Indeed, I have not much to say honestly."

Meanwhile, in the balcony of the participants, Shikamaru's jaw fell down to the floor out of shock. This caused the laughter of the remaining participants, although not much for Kiba, who was getting more nervous as his match got closer. At least Sasuke didn't seem to be arriving soon, so he'd maybe win by default.

Temari, on the other hand, just widened her eyes in surprise, it was quite a coincidence that they were matched up together. She didn't mind as much though, she would still win.

Both of them went down the stairs towards the arena. Temari was quick to reach her position, close to Hayate, but Shikamaru was really slow to do so. He watched the entire arena, just like an old man watching a beautiful landscape. However, he could not spot much more than several trees and vegetation close to the walls as his slowness made the crowd desperate, even to the point of booing him after almost a couple of minutes. The genin of the ponytail figured that he had no other option than to listen his fans and hurry a bit to get where he was supposed to.

Hayate coughed before bending down slightly, raising his hand afterwards. "Alright, ready... Go!" He gave the signal for the genin to start their match. "Please don't be as slow to fight..." He finally murmured, recovering his normal stance.

The blonde kunoichi had the initiative from the start, opening her giant fan slightly and attempting to hit her opponent with it, forcing him to jump back and take distance. Shikamaru's reaction was basic, he threw several shuriken back at her, although they were easily deflected by the giant fan.

_So it is made with some sort of metal huh..._ Shikamaru thought as he got his hands in his pockets. _Let's see what else it can do._ He remembered the match against Tenten, but he still wanted to be sure about the capacity of the weapon.

Temari opened the fan once again as she saw her opponent running towards her, his speed surprising her. She tried to blow him away with an air current, but he started to run in zigzag, which made it complicated for her to catch him. The blonde kunoichi closed her fan and grabbed it with both hands, blocking the kick her opponent had jumped to aim and then knocking him off with it.

Shikamaru fell to the floor, turning to look at the blonde kunoichi. He carefully stood up, grabbing a couple of kunai and once again charging against the girl. He managed to almost hit her, but her fan was too big to just avoid and too hard to go through. This time he wasn't thrown away as he was the one to jump back. _Training with Gohan did improve my taijutsu, but it's not enough._

"Impressive, he has improved a lot in taijutsu." Asuma pointed out, turning to his students in the search for their opinions. "Our training has shown great results, hasn't it?" He continued to smoke after speaking.

"Yeah, but I didn't manage to lose weight." Chouji added before continuing to eat his chips.

Gohan cringed at this. "Well, Shikamaru did improve a lot, I think he can win this without much trouble!"

He put his kunai back in his pocket. His sight was firmly put in the fan. "Alright, enough energy waste."

"Huh?" Temari raised one of her eyebrows as her fan opened once again, revealing a purple circle in it. _What are you planning?_

Before, Shikamaru had spotted several trees next to the giant walls of the arena, which gave him an idea. He grabbed and threw several kunai and shuriken, as much as he could, and continued his attack with a smoke bomb. This bought him enough time to reach the trees and use the shadows created by the trees on his favor. Seeing that the smoke was still there, he took the chance and attempted to get his opponent caught once and for all. He swiftly gestured several hand signs before raising his voice. " **Shadow Imitation Technique!** "

The shadows moved out of the spot Shikamaru was in, quickly advancing into the smoke. He'd made a risky move here, not having much more than to guess where his opponent would be, but he needed to win before his chakra ran out. Just as the shadow got to advance a bit into the smoke, it was blown away by a gust of wind created by the kunoichi's fan. Temari spotted the shadow in no time, jumping back quickly in an attempt to avoid the shadow. The genin of the ponytail observed in frustration as his shadow failed to reach the blonde girl in time.

"That was close." She murmured while marking a line in the floor with her fan, it was the limit distance the shadow could reach.

"Ugh." Shikamaru was annoyed that he'd failed, but he still had to win, so he'd think of something else. "Now this is inconvenient."

"So he copied what that girl had done before..." Asuma pointed out, remembering Shiho and her strategy based on the use of smoke bombs.

Shikamaru slowly took a smoke bomb out, throwing it in front of himself before the kunoichi was able to blow it away. He needed to move quickly, and he did so just as the kunoichi waved his fan. The smoke was once again blown away. Temari found the spot empty, wondering where the genin of the ponytail had gone and not being able to find him anywhere. She revealed a second purple circle on her fan as she opened it, still looking everywhere for her opponent. She finally spotted some movement with her peripheral vision, but only finding his grey jacket tied to a kunai slowly falling down.

"Oh!" She exclaimed after figuring out what he was planning.

The genin of the ponytail jumped out of one of the trees, his hands in the position he'd previously been in when he tried to catch her. He landed next to the spot he'd previously been in, then expanding his shadow towards the kunoichi. Temari was too fast, though, once again managing to avoid the shadow, or so she thought. She suddenly felt the inability to move, panicking instantly as she saw that the shadow had caught her from behind.

"Gotcha." Shikamaru grinned confidently.

Temari's eyes widened in shock. "But how...?"

"The hole Naruto dug in his match against Neji, you stood right next to it and I did reach the other end of it." He explained, his body remaining still in the same position.

"Damn it, damn it." Temari murmured as she spotted the hole. "How could I forget that..." She desperately thought of what to do as her opponent raised one of his hands, her body imitating said movement as a result of the jutsu she'd fallen victim of.

"I surrender." He said, the kunoichi's eyes going from desperation to shock.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?" Gohan yelled, standing up from his seat. "And he got mad at me for surrendering..." The half-blood saiyan was annoyed by this, but he would settle it with his teammate later.

"He probably ran out of chakra, you didn't even try." Chouji explained calmly.

"I ran out of chakra." Shikamaru explained to the kunoichi. "It just had no sense to keep on trying even though I thought of a thousand ways of winning."

Hayate could do no more than to cringe at the situation, but at least he could be grateful that the fight wasn't as slow as the entrance. "As Shikamaru Nara has surrendered, Temari of the Sand is the winner of the match."

As both genin left the arena, the Hokage stood up once again, taking the scroll up for him to read it. "We are getting closer to finishing the first round of matches! And we shall continue with the match of Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand."

"Finally! It's my turn!" Lee exclaimed, his excitement being obvious.

Gaara remained silent and just limited himself to go down to the arena. After a couple of minutes, the two of them were already standing in front of each other. The referee was ready to give the signal, but Lee said something before he could do so.

"Good luck, may the best win." He bowed in a sign of respect. He saw no response and decided to take his fighting stance, standing straight and taking one of his open hands in front of his body while the other remained hidden behind his back.

"There's no way he is a genin." Gohan said, earning everyone's attention. "Remember what he did to the guy of the special eyes? There's no way a genin can beat another one in that way..."

"What are you implying?" Asuma raised one of his eyebrows as he let some smoke come out of his mouth.

"Don't worry, there is no way the Hokage let someone who isn't a genin compete in the exams." Kurenai, who was sitting along her student, Hinata, in front of the seats Asuma and his students had.

Just some seats further, Genma and two of his students were sitting. The jounin watched with a serious expression as the redhead stood in the arena.

"I hope Lee doesn't go through the same you did..." Yakumo said, concern being clear in her voice.

Nobuyuki, who had been forced into a wheelchair by the thrash he received from the redhead, had lost any trait of the happiness he'd shown before. His previous smile now turned into no more than a serious face, some could even say there were hints of anger in his eyes.

"Go!" Hayate said as he gave the signal.

Gaara stared coldly at Lee. He felt no more than disgust at the simple view of his opponent. He couldn't look more ridiculous, the bowl hairstyle, the green jumpsuit. He was sure he would win, brutally, so it really wasn't important. Bloodlust was all he had, not minding any confidence his opponent showed.

The redhead made the first move of the match, blocking the hole that had been dug by Naruto just a couple of matches before. He wanted to avoid dealing with it later. And so he proceeded with his defense, seeing his opponent already running towards him. A flying kick was aimed at his head, but he blocked it effortlessly with a wall of sand. Several others were attempted from every possible direction, the speed ever greater, but he didn't even need to turn at the genin of the green jumpsuit to block them with his sand.

Lee just got more excited at the apparent superiority of his opponent. He wanted to impress Guy, so he would do his best. He dashed towards his opponent, his fist rising as he got closer. Another small wall of sand appeared, big enough to block the punch. The genin of the green jumpsuit obviously noticed this, and lowered his arm at the last second, sliding under the sand that attempted to block his attack. A wave of sand suddenly appeared in front of him, but he jumped over it, raising his fist once again, aiming at the redhead's abdomen.

Once again, he ordered his sand to appear in front of him, but the annoying black haired genin evaded the sand, again. He got tired, so this time, as his opponent tried to run behind him, he threw his sand to him. The attack landed successfully in his ribs, pushing the genin of the green jumpsuit back. Lee was quick though, quick enough to jump back and get away from the sand when it tried to get all over him. Gaara remained still, looking at the same direction as the start of the match.

"Maybe Tenten was right when she told me to use the kunai for this match." Lee murmured, taking a couple of kunai from his pocket. "You really are a formidable rival to fight against, your defense truly seems to be perfect." His voice now directed at the redhead.

The kunai were thrown, but neither of them were even close to hitting the apparent objective. But before Tenten was even able to cringe, Lee ran at such a high speed that he jumped and reached the kunai before it went past Gaara. He kicked one towards the redhead, using it as an impulse to reach the second one. As the sand blocked and break the first one, the second one was already close to the redhead's back. Anyways, more sand came out of the pumpkin Gaara was carrying in his back. The black haired genin landed next to some bushes near the spot Shikamaru had used just some minutes prior.

_This speed is incredible..._ Gohan observed from his seat as Lee showed to be faster than any shinobi he'd seen fight before, surpassing the speed he'd expect one of them to have. _So maybe they can reach greater strength..._

Guy, sitting further away from Asuma and Kurenai, was barely resisting the tears of pride he wanted to release from his eyes. Next to him, Tenten observed how much that weak kid she met more than a year ago had progressed into even possibly surpassing Neji. Both were truly proud of what he had achieved with no more than hard work and determination.

"Alright," Lee said as he bent down to reach his legs, "I know Guy-sensei told me not to do it, but I think I'll need to get this off." He took his orange leg warmers off, revealing some weights attached to his legs. This called the half-blood saiyan's attention, remembering the training his father and Piccolo used to do. Not only his surprise was great, though, but everyone was shocked when he took the weights off and threw them to the floor, creating a little crater. "Now I'll be faster."

That was the last thing Gaara could hear as he noticed a blue sandal approach his left cheek, his sand being barely able to block it. Next was his right arm, still being barely able to block the attack. It started to get annoying for the redhead as an overwhelming amount of attacks were quickly carried out against him. The sand walls started to get smaller as it barely had time to gather enough to be able to block the attacks. The situation was unsustainable, and he realized that when finally a punch was able to break through the sand, it requiring another layer of sand to stop it from reaching the redhead's face.

Lee's excitement did no more than increase when he noticed his progress towards hitting his opponent. He finally reached the limit of his speed, attempting constant kicks and punches against the redhead. After breaking through another sand wall, he noticed the possibility of an opening. He turned to kick Gaara with his heel, being blocked just as he expected. The redhead noticed what his opponent had done, attempting to gather as much sand as possible in front of his face, his pumpkin finally running out of sand as he was currently using every single bit of it. The genin of the green jumpsuit had used the sand wall as a platform to jump on, rolling while still in air to aim his kick right at the face.

He found a thick wall of sand where he'd aimed to kick, concentrating all of his strength in his leg. He was determined to go through. The redhead was sure he was safe. He'd been surprised by the capacity of his opponent, but he was still superior. His eyes widened, though, because the kick managed to leave a hole in the thick wall he thought would protect him with no problem. And as if it wasn't enough already, Lee took advantage of Gaara's shock to land a powerful hit in his nape. He had jumped behind the redhead without him even noticing. Gaara was forced into his knees by the powerful hit. His body wasn't accustomed to actually being hit.

"This guy is a monster..." Nobuyuki said in utter shock as someone was actually able to hit the redhead. "And he was still able to actually hit him."

Yakumo turned to look at both his master and teammate, finding their shocked faces. "So he truly is amazing..." She murmured.

"Well, he was hit in the end, I guess he is a genin, after all." Chouji told his teammate, referring to the redhead.

"His speed is... incredible." Gohan was completely shocked.

"Seems like Guy has done a great job with his students." Asuma said, smoking afterwards.

Lee took some distance before turning to look at his opponent. He wasn't able to see his face as the redhead had lowered it, but he was able to see his nape, the place he'd landed his kick on. There was no blood, it only appeared to be a cracked glass, but it was actually sand. Bits of sand fell from the cracks of the sand cocoon.

"Y-y-yo-you touched me..." Gaara said, his voice was obscure and trembled considerably. "H-how d-did you touch ME?" His voice started to show his anger, which was growing by the second. "I WILL KILL YOU FOR DOING THAT!" The redhead finished with an angry scream, standing up and walking towards his opponent.

Lee remained as excited as he'd been throughout the fight, but he was starting to notice a little bit of fatigue as his adrenaline levels started to go down. Rather than waiting for the attacks to come at him, he dashed at his opponent, wanting to maintain the dominance of the battle. As Lee jumped, what seemed to be an arm made of sand grabbed his right leg and threw him the way he'd come from. He stood up and glanced at his opponent, who was getting slowly closer at him. He loosened the bandages he wore on his forearm and dashed onto his opponent once again. This time he took a turn before facing a giant stream of sand that attempted to hit him. He surrounded the redhead at great speed before suddenly jumping and running directly towards the sand stream that was thrown against him.

Gaara's eyes widened once again as his opponent evaded the sand stream, reaching him in no time. He yelled angrily once again as the genin of the green jumpsuit wrapped him with his bandages. Lee quickly grabbed him by said bandages and jumped up as high as he could. When they stopped ascending, he turned their heads towards the floor, starting a really fast nosedive.

" **Front Lotus!** " Lee yelled as they started spinning towards the floor. He let the redhead go at the last second before falling, although he had enough time to land on his feet.

A great crater was formed as the redhead finally hit the floor, even creating a cloud of dust. Lee stood on his knees after landing, breathing heavily as fatigue finally started to get him. Once the dust cloud disappeared, the body of Gaara could finally be seen, although it seemed to be no more than an empty sand cocoon. Lee was the first to notice. Gaara appeared from beneath the floor, sand pushing him up. A powerful sand stream caught Lee and threw him all the way to clash against one of the trees close to the walls of the arena. The redhead was taken there by his sand, while the stream continued pounding Lee, who tried to evade the attacks, but failed at times.

Lee received one last hit before finally taking distance from the redhead. He breathed heavily once he found a safer distance. Then, he got ready to attack with everything he had.

"Forgive me, Guy-sensei, but I have to do this!" Lee said as he crossed his arms in front of his face, bending his knees slightly. "I have to win!" A blue aura started to appear all around him. Veins showed up on his forehead while his face turned red and his eyes white. Finally, the aura exploded into a greater one, revealing his now fully red face. " **Gate of Pain, opened!** " He finally yelled while his aura stabilized.

"K-kaio-ken?" Gohan's eyes widened. "His energy multiplied itself... This can't be..."

"I believe that's the Eight Gates technique." Asuma explained. "It gives you great physical strength but really sucks the energy from you, it even gets to the point in which it can kill you."

_So it is like the kaio-ken..._ Gohan thought, his hands now holding his chin.

Lee was quick to rush towards his opponent. A thick sand wall tried to stop him, but he ran through it without much trouble. Then, a sand stream tried to push him back, but he punched through it. As his opponent's fist was just a few millimeters away, Gaara could swear he felt fear. The redhead was thrown away several meters, but Lee was already waiting for him as he was about to hit the floor. He was kicked up into the sky, only being able to see the silhouette of his opponent before being double kicked down to the floor. Another crater formed, there were three already in the arena. Lee fell down to the floor on his feet, but once he did, his technique wore off.

"NOOO!" Gaara erupted from the floor, the now deformed and unstable shapes his sand adopted working as an indicator of just how angry he was. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME BLEED?"

Lee grinned as he saw blood coming down from the redhead's forehead. He was satisfied that he'd been able to hit his opponent. A sand stream tackled him, it was powerful enough to make him land on the walls of the arena. The scenery was familiar to both everyone who had seen the preliminary matches. The sand that had previously been used as a wall turned into another sand stream, joining the constant attacks against the black haired genin.

"Someone do something!" Nobuyuki started to panic. "He's going to kill him!"

"Alright, it's enough." Gohan said as he stood up from his seat. "I won't let anyone die here."

"Gohan, wait!" Asuma tried to stop his student, but in the blink of an eye, the half-blood saiyan was already down there.

With astonishing speed, Gohan landed with his fist in Gaara's face. The redhead's body impacted against an opposing wall, remaining nailed in it just as Nobuyuki resulted after his own battle against him. Gaara fell unconscious almost instantly, so he was unable to feel the impact in the moment. Meanwhile, an injured and totally tired Lee fell down from the wall after the sand also fell down. The half-blood saiyan grabbed him before he touched the floor and then gently put him down. He beckoned the medical ninja to come as he went to also get the genin he had just punched into unconsciousness.

"H-how...?" Lee struggled to even talk.

"W-what did just happen?" Chouji asked. He was as shocked as everyone else was.

"I-I don't know..." Asuma answered as a drop of sweat went down from his forehead.

All the way up to the balcony of the Kages, the Third's interest in Gohan sparked once again. He turned to look at Yuichi, telling him something only with his glance. Yuichi knew what the old man was planning, but he wasn't really for it. They didn't have much time to discuss the matter, though, as the Kazekage suddenly got a kunai out. He grabbed Hiruzen from the neck, menacing Yuichi with killing him.

_It's now or never._ The Kazekage beckoned something to the shinobi that was guarding him. His guard then gestured several hand signs before a type of red light was thrown from his hands.

"This is an invasion!" Yuichi realized that the red light was a signal, instantly taking out his special kunai, one with three spikes instead of one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter! I believe this is actually the longest one of all until now, whoops. I just thought that cutting Gaara vs. Lee at the middle would be a bit disappointing, so yep, I decided to go through it up until the end!
> 
> Anyways, what did you think about it? Did you like it? Any feedback you want to give me in the comments? Feel free to do so! I'm a starter at writing and I really appreciate constructive criticism as it helps me improve!
> 
> Alright, with nothing more to say (I hope I'm not forgetting anything hehe), see you soon with the invasion of Konoha!


	25. Invasion!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The invasion of Konoha starts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I actually managed to get the chapter ready in the same week hehe, I have to admit that I am kind of proud of myself, but anyways.  
> Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DB NOR NARUTO.

The security of the arena consisted of the jounin guarding the arena itself and several ANBU scattered between the audience, as well as some others standing behind the seats. Asuma, who planned to go and get his student, turned back and noticed how one of the ANBU made a hand sign. This alerted the jounin, who informed everyone close to him to repel the jutsu he was about to make.

The mysterious ANBU heard this, but he did no more than to turn before a feather rain started. Everyone in the audience started to fall asleep, although those who followed Asuma's advice managed to repel the jutsu. The jounin in the audience figured almost instantly what was happening as they saw a red light ignite from the balcony of the Hokage.

"An invasion." Asuma said, throwing his cigarette down and then stomping on it. "We should get moving." He turned at Kurenai and Guy, who wasn't that far away. "Our students should go to the nursery and get the others, then try to reach Gohan too."

The genin present nodded in understanding, already gathering and preparing to leave. On the other hand, Kurenai and Guy joined the other jounin to clear the audience area from any possible enemy. Chouji, Hinata and Tenten were suddenly stopped by Genma, who took his two students to them.

"You're going to the nursery, right?" He asked with a relaxed tone. "Then Nobuyuki will be save there, take care of him!" He swiftly moved and eventually reached Asuma and the others.

"Alright, then, let's go and find the others." Tenten said as she beckoned the rest to follow her, noticing that Yakumo would need more time as she was carrying her teammate. "Need some help?"

* * *

Gohan intended to grab the redhead before he fell down from the wall, but just as he was starting to fall, something appeared in his energy. The half blood saiyan noticed this in little to no time. Some even greater energy popped out from his own, but it seemed to be just as unstable as it was powerful. He got distracted, though, as Gaara screamed before something began emerging from his body. Gohan quickly ran back to the medical ninja, urging them to leave to the nursery, and just as he did, a great monster appeared from what used to be Gaara of the Sand.

"Now this will be a problem." Gohan murmured while still beckoning the medical ninja to leave. As they finally ran away, he turned to the creature, measuring its energy and increasing his own considerably, although it didn't seem to need a big part of his base power. "Alright, how do I deal with this?" He asked to himself as he adopted his fighting stance.

Suddenly, several leaves raised from the floor by the force of a gust. Between the leaves, Kakashi and Sasuke stood still. Hatake had no real physical change, but his student did. His hair was slightly longer than before, while his clothes now consisted of a black version of his previous outfit. They finally appeared, and Gohan could not help but to cringe at how late they'd been.

"Oh hey, you're late." Gohan said with a big smile on his face. "And in not the most convenient of times hehe."

"So the village is being invaded..." As he spoke, the giant creature broke through the walls of the arena. This caused the east part of the audience area to collapse entirely and resulting in the death of hundreds of civilians.

"Kakashi!" Hayate yelled as he ran towards the silver haired jounin. His way towards him was interrupted, though, as a jounin from the Sand attacked him.

Hatake observed as the jounin of the turban turned to look at him. "Kids, try to get that monster out of the village, I'll help Hayate take care of that guy and then we'll go to deal with that monster."

"Just don't even try to attack him, that monster is just too strong for some genin." Hayate said as he stood up again.

"Actually, can't you summon one of your guys to help them with that?" Kakashi said as he remained expressionless. "Maybe some of the big ones."

"Oh, yeah right." The lizard lover bit his own thumb, gestured several hand signs and finally put his hand down. A seal appeared in the floor, from it appearing a giant lizard accompanied by a cloud of smoke. "Hey, do you think you can help those two?"

"Hmm." The lizard wore a gray haori, carrying two giant kunai at opposing sides of it. It turned to look at the kids, his yellow eyes examining them and noticing something different in the half-blood saiyan. Both of the genin noticed how the lizard was slightly smaller than the wall of the arena. "What exactly do I have to help them with?"

Hayate looked up and then pointed towards the part that had been broken. "Go that way, you'll reach it in no time." The green lizard thought about it for a minute before nodding.

Gohan observed the lizard closely, feeling his energy and noticing how it was really great compared to Hayate's. The lizard extended its hands to both of the kids, inviting them to get on them. Once they did, he took them up to his head, then getting on its four legs before quickly following the path of destruction left by the monster. The speed made it difficult for the genin not to fall.

* * *

The walls of the Hidden Village in the Leaves rose high, surrounding it almost completely. Several towers had been built in these walls, starting in the entrance of the village and finishing just before connecting with the Hokage Rock, in which the faces of all the Hokage were carved in the mountain. In each tower, a squad of shinobi-either chunin or jounin-watched over for any possible threat.

In the third east tower, a really young squad of chunin had been assigned for just a couple of days. It had been quite calm in the recent days, which was why they were playing with cards instead of being totally concentrated on the outside. One of them stood up for a moment to go to the bathroom, and it was then when he noticed. The last thing he heard was the sound of the tower collapsing.

"Let's destroy as much as we can!" A girl with long and untamed dark pink hair said. She turned to look at her other four teammates before beckoning them to enter through the now destroyed wall.

"Destroy? I thought the objective was helping lord Orochimaru to kill the old Hokage." A fat boy with three tufts of orange hair on his head, a mohawk in the middle one, questioned.

"Lord Orochimaru had told us to destroy as much as we could while on our way to the arena." Kidomaru, a boy with brown skin and long black hair on a tail, explained. His clothing was almost the same as his teammates, consisting of a black shirt under a beige tunic bearing a white symbol that was tied up with a purple rope-like belt, as well as some black pants and black sandals.

"Whatever, let's not lose anymore time." Another one of them said. His light blue hair covered half of his face.

The fifth one of them simply jumped over the debris left after the wall was blown up. His uniform was slightly different, consisting of the similar clothes as his teammates, although his tunic was long-sleeved and considerably more loose. His long, white hair made it easier to notice his green eyes and the two scarlet dots painted on his forehead. Behind him, the previous four followed and left space for many more shinobi to enter the village. These other shinobi joining the invasion were from the Sand, the Sound and the Grass-all three of them having signed an alliance to conjointly attack the Leaf.

The civilians that lived in the houses nearest to the walls were the first ones to see the horde of shinobi getting closer. Many ran out of their houses at the greatest speed they could reach, but they were mostly still caught and slaughtered without much trouble. The shinobi from the Grass stood up between the rest, though, as they tended to torture their victims before finally killing them. For now, the other shinobi tolerated this, but they wondered how much they would.

Building by building, the five shinobi that led the invasion advanced, leaving a path of blood and destruction as they advanced. However, the white-haired one just evaded any civilian or shinobi from the Leaf that got on his way, proving to be concentrated in fulfilling his main objective: help lord Orochimaru.

"Come on, Kimimaro, do something apart from running," the pink-haired girl said as she tried to keep up with his pace, "you're so boring."

* * *

Two kunai clashed, sparks appearing from between. Hayate stared directly at his opponent before being thrown back by the jounin of the turban, who swiftly turned to block Kakashi's attack. The silver-haired ninja was kicked away, giving enough time and space for the sand jounin to attack with the kunai. His attack was blocked, but he then aimed a punch at the ribs of the apparently sick man, which actually landed, although it didn't seem to be enough to actually break any ribs. Hayate took his kunai and nailed it deeply on the man's arm while he grabbed it with his own.

The jounin of the turban took the kunai out of his arm after his arm was released from his opponent's grip. For his surprise, Kakashi was already running towards him, aiming a kick at his head once he reached the sand jounin. The kick was successfully evaded, but Hayate quickly jumped on him and aimed a kunai at his chest. He evaded the attack once more, but he was finally hit by a kick also from Hayate, who had quickly regain his posture after trying to nail the kunai. Behind him, the silver-haired jounin ran towards his opponent, a kunai on both of his hands.

Baki also decided to take two kunai, one in each hand, but he surprised the famous copy-nin by throwing them directly at him. The silver-haired jounin blocked the kunai without much trouble, but he was unable to block the tackle from the enemy, which pushed him back and even made him fall down. His ribs started to hurt.

Hayate saw the tackle and didn't waste a single second in reaching the sand jounin. Once he reached the enemy, he aimed a kunai at his head, which seemed to be about to be easily deflected. This was at least until he gave the man of the turban a low sweep and, while he fell, managed to nail the his weapon on his left shoulder. After doing so, he jumped back and grabbed his sword from his back.

"I was wondering if you were going to use it." Kakashi said as he stood up, his plain tone being interrupted by slight struggle. "He's tough."

* * *

"So, old man, ready to die?" The man with the snake traits said, licking his lips with his long tongue.

"I'm bringing you down with me," the Third answered while taking his hat off, "if you manage to actually kill me." He finally grabbed his tunic, quickly taking it off and throwing it down the building along with the hat, revealing a black jumpsuit with pieces of armor covering his forearms. He also wore a black helmet with a forehead protector that had the symbol of the village, as well as black sandals.

Orochimaru laughed at the elder's arrogance. He licked his lips once again before getting into his fighting stance. "Amazing that you keep that enthusiasm of yours at your age, old man."

"Shut up and fight." Hiruzen ordered as he started to gesture hand signs.

The tiles of the roof of the Hokage balcony, in which they were standing, rose up, seemingly being controlled by the Hokage. Orochimaru saw this with great interest, although he did not have much time to do so as the first tiles started to get thrown at him. The man with the snake traits jumped and contorted to evade the tiles, not showing struggle while doing so. The Third made several hand signs once again.

" **Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!** " He exclaimed after throwing five shuriken, which turned into at least 20 more. He continued to throw tiles afterwards to keep his opponent busy.

Orochimaru made several hand signs as fast as he could, taking a couple of hits from the tiles and shuriken before getting into the surface of the roof as if it were some kind of mud. Hiruzen looked at every possible direction, not finding him until he heard his voice directly in his ears.

"Hey, old man." He sinisterly said, to which the Third quickly reacted by jumping away. Orochimaru licked his lips while his glance showed total enjoyment and pleasure.

As the Hokage finished his hand signs, a river of mud appeared in the roof out of nowhere, seemingly consuming the man with the snake traits. Anyhow, he got out of the floor just as he'd previously done, away from the mud river. A snake seemed to go out from one of Orochimaru's sleeves, aiming for a bite on the old man's neck. Suprisingly for a man of his age, not only did Hiruzen take it, but he also managed to grab the snake and throw it away as if nothing had happened.

"Impressive." Orochimaru said with a mocking tone.

"I'm only getting started." The elder answered as he rubbed his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so that was it for this chapter! What did you think?  
> Anyways, having no more to say, see you soon with the next chapter! Bye!


	26. Battle for the Leaf!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Third Hokage fights Orochimaru in an attempt to save the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! How's your day going? I hope it's going great.
> 
> I wanna clarify from the start that this chapter also ended up being a bit long, but I got really inspired when writing it, and I actually cut many things off when editing (it had reached up to 5k words lol). But anyways, I hope you like the chapter, and remember:
> 
> I DO NOT OWN DBZ NOR NARUTO.

She pulled out her kunai out of the man's head. She cleaned it with a part of the man's uniform as she didn't want to get her clothes dirty with more blood. One of her teammates turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised. She replied by smiling.

"Why do you clean it?" The orange-haired boy said. He was resting from the battle they'd just had against some jounin from the Leaf. His teammates, standing all around him, were waiting for him to recover.

"This is my favorite one, it has a 'T' carved in its blade, don't you see?" She extended her hand to show it to him. "I was sure you all knew about it."

"We do." Kidomaru replied as two of his arms were crossed.

Jirobo shook his head in response to what his teammate said. The dark pink-haired girl shrugged. The orange-haired boy surrendered and decided not to cause any more noise than there already was. He kicked away one of the corpses close to him before standing up.

The grayish blue-haired boy sighed as if he had been desperately waiting for hours, even though it had just taken a couple of minutes. Something caught his attention, though, and it was not only his that got caught. Everyone turned back to look at a mature, slightly pink-haired man that was standing firmly with a menacing look.

"Lord Orochimaru will kill us for being so late..." Kimimaro said while sitting back down.

The man started to clearly tremble at the sole mention of that name, but the determination in his eyes didn't seem to dissipate. His green eyes stared deeply into the brown eyes of whom he thought would be his first victim. He received no more than a maniac smile from the girl, who had just finished cleaning her kunai. The man, who was wearing a black jumpsuit without the typical green vest of the Leaf, did not hesitate to jump on the girl, aiming a kunai at her head.

"How cute." She said before evading the attack, going back in a matter of seconds to land her kunai on his back. The man yelled in pain as blood dirtied her kunai once again. She took it out only to this time nail it on his head. "I expected more of you." She got away from the man after removing her kunai. This caused more blood to come out of the man's head, which dyed his dark pink hair.

"S-Sakura..." Were the last word he said before finally dying.

"Let's move already, we're really close." The boy of the white hair said, standing up as if nothing had happened.

His teammates followed him when he started running towards the already visible arena. Their speed was quite decent, although the people that now were part of the pile of dead bodies they'd left behind were really aware that it wasn't their maximum speed.

* * *

"Oh, really?" Orochimaru licked his lips.

The Third knew he couldn't lose the upper hand of the battle if he wanted to finish it before he got tired. He raced towards his opponent, throwing a handful of kicks and punches, all of them being evaded by the man of the snake traits. The Hokage then attempted to hit him with his elbow, once again failing; his arm was grabbed by Orochimaru this time, though, and it was used to throw him away.

He stood up, sweat coming down his forehead. He made several signs. " **Earth Style: Mud Clones!** " He yelled as four masses of mud emerged from the floor, adopting the appearance of the old man. The now five identical figures started to run towards the man, alternating positions to try and confuse him. Once they reached him, the formed a line.

The first one of them jumped directly at Orochimaru, engaging battle. The other four positioned themselves all around the two of them. The man of the snake traits transformed his arms into white snakes, attempting to bite the man's neck. He didn't expect the Third to use his real body to fight with him directly, and so he was surprised when he used the armor he wore on his forearms to block the snakes. And already there, he wasn't able to do anything when the Hokage used the snakes' grip to impulse himself into kicking Orochimaru's face. The old man let himself fall down, then rolling away from the man with the snake traits.

" **Earth Style: Mud Bullets!** " The clones' hands were open, all aiming at their opponent.

In a blink of an eye, many masses of mud, similar to a cannonball, were thrown at the man. He wasn't able to dodge any as the amount was just overwhelming from every direction. Every impact was surprisingly painful for just mud.

" **Air Style: Great Breakthrough!** " Orochimaru let a powerful gust of wind come out of his mouth, repelling all the mud bullets and pushing the clones away. He did not like that he was almost caught by the old man, which took him to get serious once and for all.

Hiruzen struggled not to fall, although he was lucky that the gust of wind stopped not long after the clones disappeared into just mud. He was starting to figure how strong his former student really was. He got ready for a summoning before his opponent smiled sinisterly.

" **Summoning: Reanimation!** " His smile was then hidden by two coffins that emerged from the floor. One of the coffins had the inscription 'First' carved in it, while the other one had the inscription 'Second'. The Hokage's jaw dropped down at the mere sight of those two coffins. However, his confidence and his opponent's nervousness was interrupted as the portal closed immediately after the second coffin came out, not even seeming to attempt getting a third one.

"W-what?" The Third knew what was happening, but he was still not ready to admit it, even though he had already gathered enough evidence. His fist clenched without him even noticing. He then looked at his former student, seeing confusion in his face.

"Maybe there wasn't a third sacrifice..." He murmured, then shaking his thoughts off and recovering his focus. He finally made one more hand sign, apparently causing the lids of both coffins to fall down, revealing two men.

One of them had long and dark brown hair, almost black, and was wearing a black jumpsuit, similar to the one of the Hokage, under a red armor. The second one had shorter, silver hair and wore the same attire as the other one, although his armor was blue. Both seemed to be no more than corpses in a coffin, but not long after the lid fell down, they stood up straight and walked outside the coffin. They seemed to have recognized the Third.

"Oh, Hiruzen," the man with silver hair said, surprised to see his pupil at such an old age, "you've grown older."

The Third watched in awe as his two predecessors had been brought back to life.

"Why are we back?" The man of the red armor raised his eyebrows without understanding much of what was happening.

"The reanimation technique." The man of the blue armor answered. His cold tone brought memories back to the Third. "And by whom?" He continued as he turned to look behind him, being seemingly unsurprised at what he saw.

"This means we'll have to fight Hiruzen?" The man of the red armor said. He received a nod from the silver-haired man. "That's unfortunate..."

Orochimaru chuckled at the astounded face of the current Hokage. He was starting to run out of option as he didn't expect the old man to have much more chakra and the tiles of the roof were already starting to run out, that's to not even mention the numerical disadvantage.

"I won't die until the village is safe," Hiruzen spoke, his determination translating to his strong voice, "that's what I vowed to do, that is what the Will of Fire means!" These words captivated the attention of the man with the red armor, causing him to smile while he got into his fighting stance.

"To die for this corrupt and decadent village?" Orochimaru said. The two men that were reanimated attacked, just as they were mentally ordered by him. "That Will of Fire you defend so pridefully is nothing more than a lie to control the people from the Leaf." The man of the red armor was enfuriated by this claims, but the jutsu he was victim of didn't give him the opportunity to say or do anything against it.

Hiruzen ignored his former student, glimpsing at his side. He spotted Yuichi approaching the fight at phenomenal speed, although it was common for him. This was relieving, now he wouldn't be forced to summon Enma, he could save some more chakra. He was barely able to block the blow from his predecessor, so he was forced to jump back to evade the kick coming from the man of the red armor.

And just as soon as Yuichi was jumping into the battle, he was kicked back by a four-armed boy, making him fall from the roof. Along with him, another three shinobi, seemingly teenagers, formed around the battle, each one of them close to one of the four corners the roof had.

" **Ninja art: Four Violet Flames Formation!** " The four ninja yelled in unison, the four of them making the same hand sign.

Hiruzen knew what would happen once he saw a purple barrier rise up into the sky, closing any possible exit he could use and blocking any support he could receive. He was now forced to waste more chakra. First of all, he would need space.

"You are late, incompetent scum!" Orochimaru hissed at the ones closer to him. "And where is Kimimaro?"

"His sickness worsened suddenly and was forced to go back." The orange-haired ninja replied, only causing his boss to turn his back on them and not talk to them anymore.

" **Earth Style: Mud Slide!** " He yelled, causing his predecessors to be washed away by a slide of mud, winning some time. He bit his thumb, followed by several hand signs and finalizing in a seal appearing in the roof, coming from his hand.

The First already knew this trick, and for such reason he prepared a jutsu after quickly jumping out of the mud. He got his hands together as he gathered his chakra. " **Wood Style: Birth of the Trees!** "

As trees emerged from the roof, Hiruzen struggled not to be caught between them, constantly jumping off them. His legs were progressively growing exhausted, his age was starting to pay off. He finally got caught by one of the branches of a growing tree. His efforts to get away from the tree were erratic; this caused a smile to escape his former student's face, it was surprising to see him like that, but it favoured his victory. This smile soon disappeared as the man of the red armor called his attention.

Hiruzen was able to extend his hand to a nearby branch. His muscles relaxed when his hand was able to feel the wood. He sighed once a black seal covered the branch, he now only wanted to pronounce some words.

"Come forth, **Monkey King Enma!** " He yelled.

A giant monkey with white fur-also wearing a black suit under a kimono shirt with fur trimmings and a tiger pattern on it, as well as a forehead protector with the symbol of the Leaf carved in it-appeared from a cloud of white smoke that emerged from the seal. Orochimaru's face now showed disgust instead of previous confidence and satisfaction.

The giant monkey recognized the man of the snake traits almost immediately. Its facial muscles contorted to show its fangs, although it seemed to contain itself when it hid them again. Enma turned to look behind him, finding the Third trapped in some tree branches. It pointed at the branches, using its other hand to scratch its beard. Hiruzen nodded at this, which was followed by the monkey destroying the branches with its claws and not presenting much struggle.

"Now," Hiruzen said as he got into a different fighting stance than his previous one, "Enma!" The monkey got its hands together and transformed into a giant staff, almost doubling the size of the old man.

"Ok, then." Orochimaru said. He then opened his mouth inhumanly, showing a snake that seemed to come out of his throat. The snake's mouth was the next one to open, and it let a sword out once it did so.

The Third ignored his two predecessors, charging directly against his former student. The staff clashed with the sword several times before Sarutobi attempted a low sweep on the man of the snake traits. This failed, and he was therefore required to block the sword with his forearm, breaking the armor he had in it. He slid at the side of his opponent, rapidly standing up and pushing his opponent forward with a hit in the back.

Orochimaru scowled at this. He quickly turned and attempted several sword attacks on the old man, failing in each one of them. In the last attempt, Orochimaru threw his blade to the Third's side, winning him some seconds. He extended his arms and pounded the man to the floor, causing his staff to fall from his hand and roll towards the trees behind them. Once in the floor, the man of the snake traits kicked the old man, making him fall with his face up.

"What happened, sensei?" He wasn't able to hide his teeth. "You didn't even use clones."

"You're not acting like yourself, Hiruzen." Enma's voice spoke from the staff. Orochimaru turned to look at it, finding that it had already turned back into its monkey form.

The giant monkey charged against the man of the snake traits, its sharp claws aiming to cut through his pale skin. But when the monkey was about to hit him, the Third brought his opponent down by grabbing his knees with his own. Once Orochimaru was down, he made a hand sign, causing the explosive papers he'd put on his predecessors to blow up. Enma scratched the back of its head as it saw how the old man proved it wrong.

Unfortunately for the now tired Hokage, his two predecessors recovered from any damage they had received from the explosion. They didn't take long to stand back up. A drop of sweat came down his forehead.

_Then I'll be forced to do this._ He glanced at Enma, not needing words to express what he needed from him. _I hope you can forgive me, but I need to defend the village at all costs._ He turned his sight to his predecessors, and then back to his former student.

"You seem tired, sensei." said Orochimaru, his mocking tone showing his confidence. "What has become of the so-called 'God of Shinobi'? An old and pathetic man." Hiruzen squatted as he got his hands together. "I have never seen you in so much pain."

The old man's knees trembled, sweat covered his face and he seemed to run out of breath at times. Enma had ignored this fact, but he could see it perfectly now, and it worried the Monkey King.

"Why did you make those experiments, Orochimaru?" Hiruzen changed the subject abruptly, catching the giant monkey by surprise, but seemingly not being suspicious for the man of the snake traits.

"Easy, old man, a technique that allows me to change my body whenever I want." His face turned into one of a woman. The Third's face showed horror at this, which caused him to burst out laughing maniacally. "You see, I've learned that aging is pointless. Look at you!" He didn't laugh this time. "When a body becomes useless to me, I can transfer my mind into a younger, stronger and more beautiful body."

"Hmmm." The old man remained as still as he could, his knees still trembling slightly. "I see, so you are after one of the last Uchiha." Orochimaru smiled widely, inhumanly so. "You have always been interested by the eyes of the Uchiha clan." Hiruzen's eyes suddenly widened as a thought come to mind.

Enma raised one of its eyebrows as it turned to look at the old man. Could it be that Orochimaru has another target? It is true that he has always shown great interest in the Sharingan, but maybe he has other targets now that the clan has almost disappeared. He decided not to theorize on the matter and to let his old friend talk.

"Or could it be that you are after Son Gohan?" He figured that if the kid was as strong as he suspected, the possibility of his former student taking over his body would be devastating for both the Leaf and the rest of the Shinobi World.

"Whom?" Orochimaru asked with newly sparked interest. His smile widened once again as the old man noticed what he had just done. "I was planning to take over Sasuke Uchiha's body, but that Son Gohan seems to be an even more interest prospect for you to react like that."

The two previous Hokage returned to his side, as he ordered. He put his hand in front of his face, then swapping back to his original face. Then, the First Hokage made several hand signs. Many more branches emerged from the floor, directed at the Third, whose defense was down. The impact appeared to be direct, but Enma was able to save the old man by creating a cage made out of staffs all around him.

Enma helped the old man go down from the puzzle of branches and trees that had become inside the barrier. Orochimaru laughed at the pathetic sight of the Third being helped down by the Monkey King. His predecessors would normally try to look away at such sights, but they were being controlled by the man of the snake traits at this point.

"I should have killed you back when I had the opportunity to." He firmly said, surprising the giant monkey. Enma could remember perfectly when Hiruzen let his student go that day. "But I have learned from my mistakes, and I will kill you today." He made several hand signs, which also worked as a signal for the giant monkey. " **Shadow Clone Jutsu!** "

"You truly have aged." Orochimaru spoke as the two previous Hokage left their places next to him and engaged battle with the famous Monkey King and the two shadow clones the old man had produced.

Enma was pushed back by the man of the blue armor, leaving only the two clones to handle with the two Hokage. It would have jumped back as soon as it could if it hadn't been for the pattern of hand seals he saw the old man make. _Hiruzen...!_

"The Leaf shall perish after your death!" Orochimaru laughed maniacally as one of the shadow clones was defeated.

"The Leaf is my home," Hiruzen replied, standing up straight, "and as the Hokage, I have the duty of supporting and protecting my home. And the Hokage is also the one who inherits the Leaf's will and the one that passes it to another, so it will not be easy to defeat me!"

The silver-haired man made several hand seals at an even greater speed than the Third had done previously. The old man suddenly found himself caught in a dark space, one in which a phantom could be seen holding his chakra behind him. Some external force that he wasn't able to see started punching his face constantly, putting him on his knees.

"Many shinobi fight and die when protecting this village," he tried to find the strength to stand up once more, his body was really on its limit, "what kind of Hokage wouldn't do the same for them?" He finally stood up, blocking the continuous punches with his remaining forearm armor. "They are all an important part of the Leaf. Even if you kill me, the support will not be broken!"

"Stop talking nonsense, old man!" Orochimaru yelled, the dark space finally fading away as Hiruzen was able to break the illusion.

"I will kill you and correct my past mistake." He got in his fighting stance once again. "I am the man who inherited the First's and Second's will, the Leaf's will... The Third Hokage!"

Orochimaru got the old man back into the dark space, this time ordering the two previous hokage to end it definitively. Enma noticed their plan, but he decided to trust in its old friend. It would only intervene if something went wrong.

" **Sealing Technique!** " Was all Orochimaru could hear before the two Hokage turned into dust. Two shadow clones of the Third were grabbing them.

"You sacrificed your own men..." Enma watched in horror as the dust revealed the faces of two kids, both wearing the symbol of the Sound.

Sarutobi ignored this fact, resting for some moments before beckoning the Monkey King to transform. The old man charged against his former student, with his last remaining strength. Every blow was fundamental, and so he aimed each one of them carefully; he couldn't fail this time. After some more blows, Enma transformed back into its monkey form and tried to grab Orochimaru. However, many snakes came out of the man's clothes and neutralized its movements, although this couldn't force the monkey's grin to hide.

The third dashed to his back, achieving to catch his former student off guard. The phantom that had previously appeared on the back of the old man now projected its arm through his body. The arm of the phantom got into Orochimaru's back. And it didn't take long for him to notice.

"Damn it!" He yelled as he extended his hand, his desperation distracting him for how obvious his next move was.

Enma managed to free himself from the grip of the snakes. It used both its legs and arms to reach the battle as swiftly as he could, but he still wasn't on time. He caught the sword midair, but it had already partially gone through its old friend's body. Sarutobi coughed up blood on his former student once the sword went through him.

"W-why didn't you dodge that?" For the first time in decades, the old man heard his student's trembling voice.

"In exchange for this technique..." He coughed up more blood. "You have to give your soul to the Death God."

"And half your soul is already out." Enma added, its grip on the sword getting only stronger as Orochimaru tried to pull it even further in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter! What did you think?
> 
> I don't know if you noticed, but I gave Enma some extra importance in the battle. This is mainly because I have plans for him in the future, you'll see!


	27. The One-Tail.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neji, Naruto, Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru go out to help Gohan. Meanwhile, the saiyan starts the confrontation against the tailed beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back with another chapter! I hope you enjoy it and remember:  
> I DO NOT OWN DBZ OR NARUTO.

Screams, explosions, metal clashing. Many sounds surrounded the place and none was specially grateful to the ear. Advancing through the familiar halls of the arena got surprisingly hard to do, even for shinobi like them.

The way to the nursery wasn't really that long, but it was starting to feel like it. Every sign that there was an invasion going on, made them sweat more or their hands to tremble more evidently. And if it was already hard to be part of the group trying to get to the nursery, it was even worse leading said group. Tenten wanted to run as fast as she could and make sure that her friends were still alive, but Yakumo and her injured teammate made it impossible for her to do so. It was her responsibility to take them to the nursery and so she would.

Tenten finally spotted the door that led to the nursery. She beckoned Hinata, Chouji, Sakura and Yakumo to wait. Nobuyuki activated his byakugan without anyone noticing, he wanted to be sure that the girl of the pink shirt would be fine. It was for that same reason that he was able to see how that girl went to hug the black-haired boy of the amazing speed.

"It's safe, we can go." He said calmly while deactivating his dojutsu. He was excited to talk to the boy of the green jumpsuit.

Chouji, Hinata and Sakura ran past them while her teammate pushed his wheelchair to the nursery. He was calm, everyone was fine, and he was even excited because he would be able to talk to the one who managed to hit the monster that thrashed him.

The room resembled the ones of the hospital, white walls surrounding a handful of beds and hospital equipment. In the beds, the patients in the worst conditions were laying, the rest were either standing up or sitting in the chairs next to the beds.

They spotted Shiho, who waved at them once she noticed their presence. Nobuyuki smiled warmly. Yakumo ran to hug her, then telling her friend how much she was worried about her. The blonde girl didn't manage to hold her smile back; she never expected someone to worry for her that much, at least from others that weren't her parents.

"And why are you so excited to see us?" Ino asked, confused at the reaction of her own teammate and the rest of the genin that had just entered the room. "We were just going back to the balcony."

"Yes, I was wondering too." Shiho said, she was happy about her friends' concern, but she really didn't get why they were worried.

"Something must have gone wrong," Lee, who was laying in bed, put his hand on his chin, "that guy was unbelievably strong..." He turned to look at the girl of the pink shirt. "Did that guy of the purple clothes manage to handle him?"

"I'm not sure, all I know is that the village is being invaded." Tenten answered, causing shock in everyone that didnt previously know.

"An invasion? Now that's troublesome..." Shikamaru said as he scratched his chin. "You said Gohan was fighting against the guy that left you like that, right?"

"Gohan is really strong..." Naruto said after Lee nodded. "But we need to help him!" He raised his fist, his glance as determined as always.

"Are you sure? You just fought a match!" Sakura protested, she had checked on his injuries, and he really didn't seem ready for such a fight.

Neji glanced at the blonde boy, then back to his teammates. He remembered what they thought about him, then what Naruto told him after defeating him. Lee noticed this, and tried to stand up.

"I'll join you," Shikamaru stood up, his hands in his pockets, "just to make sure you come back alive."

"I'm also going." Neji said as he stood up, ignoring his injuries. Tenten was surprised by him, he didn't appear to be like the Neji they all knew. He was actually offering to help someone.

"If Neji goes..." Lee tried to stand up, but the brown-haired girl put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

"If Gohan is there, I'll go too." Ino stood up, surprising her pink-haired friend. Chouji nodded; he would go as well.

Tenten nodded in understanding, then glancing at the Hyuga genius. Lee clenched his fists, he wouldn't be able to impress his rival this time, and that disappointed him. Neji noticed this gesture.

"If no one else will go, then the remaining of you should stay and take care of the injured." Chouji proposed as he threw away the package of chips he'd been eating. "And we should get going."

Everyone nodded in agreement. The group was quick to leave, having already gathered what they thought would be useful from the room. Neji was the last one to leave. He put his hand on Lee's shoulder, which caused the latter to glance at him. "We should spar after all this is over." The genin of the white eyes said while still looking at the door. "Some training wouldn't harm anyone, right?"

Tenten couldn't help but to laugh as Lee's eyes filled with excitement. The genin of the green jumpsuit nodded in response, causing a smile to fill Neji's face.

* * *

Yuichi had been thrown off from the roof by one of Orochimaru's men. He erratically grabbed one of his special kunai, then extending his arm towards the wall. He nailed it in the wall with both of his hands, with as much strength as he could gather at the moment. The kunai successfully penetrated the wall, and his fall was stopped. He sighed out of relief once he saw he'd managed to save himself just some seconds before hitting the floor. He took his kunai out of the wall, letting him fall once again, although this time he was close enough not to receive any harm from the fall.

As he finally hit the floor, he noticed the battle going on between two of his fellow jounin and another one from the Sand. He was surprised to see those particular two struggling to beat an individual shinobi, it wasn't typical for two of the most remarkable shinobi of the village to be handled by just one man. The silver-haired man didn't care much about the reasons, though, and for such he jumped into the battle without doubting.

In the blink of an eye, he had already put hands in his colleagues' shoulders. Contrary to what would be expected, they weren't all that shocked when they identified who he was. Yuichi nailed a kunai, a regular one, in the man's abdomen, going through his yellow vest like it was nothing. His next move consisted of a kick in the neck which pushed him away, although the kick failed to knock the man out.

Baki didn't require more to figure that his chances against the man of the blue haori were null. His speed was phenomenal, and he wouldn't be able to handle it in his current state. Reluctantly, he threw a smoke bomb, escaping as the cloud of smoke continuously expanded.

"We don't have time for this, let him go." The silver-haired man said as he turned to spot the balcony of the Hokage. "The Third is fighting Orochimaru as of now."

"So it was Orochimaru..." Kakashi spoke more to himself than to anyone else. "That explains what he was doing here."

Yuichi scratched his chin, only just figuring what he was able to see in that brief second he was about to join in the battle. He started to entertain his anxious hand with one of his kunai as he looked up at the balcony. "My grandfather was there."

"What?" Hayate asked, his logic not permitting to believe such a statement. "You're saying that the Second was there?"

"Reanimation technique, the forbidden jutsu." He replied. "His experiments were probably related to this."

"And how are we supposed to climb this?" Kakashi asked, his voice calm, as usual. "I thought you were in a hurry to go back up there."

Yuichi shook his head while looking back at the copy-nin, the one that had copied more than a thousand techniques. He hadn't really thought much about how they were supposed to climb the immense wall. His mouth opened, but he was interrupted.

"Don't worry, he's already doing his thing." The masked jounin pointed at the lizard expert.

Hayate's hands had been put together and his eyes were closed. The two other shinobi sat down, Yuichi still thinking of another way of going up that didn't take as long. Kakashi's only visible eye looked up at the balcony, spotting a purple barrier in the roof.

"Damn it," Yuichi stood up immediately as he was also able to see said barrier, "Hayate, hurry up!"

The apparently sick man obeyed, liberating the pressure he'd been accumulating through a slightly green aura that vanished within a couple of seconds. His face was slightly covered with scales, although not as much as it was usual when he entered that state. He stretched his arms and legs.

"That should be enough." Hayate said. Then, he summoned another giant lizard, although this one was slightly smaller than the previous one. "Help us get up there, the Hokage is in danger."

The lizard nodded, lowering its paws. Once the two other jounin had gone up on the paw of the lizard, it put them on its back. Hayate was already climbing the wall with his bare hands and feet, as if he was a lizard.

Kakashi and Yuichi grabbed the lizard's white haori as they got under the great sword it carried on its back. It reached the wall in no time, and in even less time it climbed it up. Lizards weren't as popular as toads, but at least they could climb vertical surfaces without trouble.

Once they arrived at the roof, the two jounin jumped from the blue lizard's back and attempted to break the barrier almost immediately, but failing in their continuous tries. The lizard was surprised that said barrier wasn't harming at the touch, so it figured that the technique wasn't appropriately executed.

Hayate also arrived not long after them, although he did take longer to climb the wall. He jumped and landed a powerful kick on the barrier. His attempt seemed useless, so he decided to back off to rest for a moment.

"Can you help us here?" The apparently sick man asked as he went back to gathering chakra.

The blue lizard took his giant sword out and struck the barrier, although it also seemed not to cause any damage. It tried to break the barrier a couple more times before giving up, it was impenetrable. Kakashi and Hayate observed hopelessly as the human-sized monkey was the only force preventing the Hokage from dying.

"It can't be..." Scales disappeared from his face as he observed the old man struggle to stay on his two feet.

Yuichi was frustrated, he was about to fail in his job. He had sworn that he would protect the Hokage at all costs, but he was unable to do anything to save him, he couldn't do anything to prevent himself from failing. And yet for some reason he only felt frustrated for failing in his mission. It was then when he realized that he didn't really care for the Third. Something crossed his mind at that moment, something that surprised even himself. _This is better for the future, just let him die..._

* * *

The green lizard advanced at full speed on its four legs, finally reaching the great sandy-colored monster in the outskirts of the village. They had gone past the forest a couple of meters prior, so they had to be considerably far away from the village. Once they got in front of it, Sasuke and Gohan jumped from the giant lizard as it stood up on two legs to stop the creature. It grabbed its two giant kunai and put them in front of its head, receiving the impact from the running creature.

"It's like a tanuki, now that I notice." Gohan pointed out with a really calm voice, which surprised the Uchiha. "But those blue marks all around its body surely takes away every charm a tanuki can have."

Sasuke remained silent as the lizard was finally able to stop the creature, which worked as a signal for them to join in. The Uchiha's pitch black eyes turned to an intense red color, intensely enough to represent the menace said eyes are. He made several hand signs as he approached the gigantic tanuki, expelling a fireball out of his mouth. To his surprise, the fire did nothing else than to alert the monster of his presence.

Gohan pushed the Uchiha away as the giant tanuki tried to stomp him. The red-eyed genin was surprised as the half-blood saiyan alone was able to resist the stomp and push it back. Then, he jumped on the creature's arm, running on it towards its face. Even the lizard was shocked as the boy was able to land a punch on the monster's face before being thrown away.

"W-what?" The lizard said as it pushed the giant creature away. _How was he able to hit the One-tail?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was chapter 27! What did you think about it?  
> The fight against the One-tail finally starts!  
> Anyways, that would be it for now! See you soon with next chapter!


	28. Gohan vs. Shukaku!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan continues fighting the One-tail along the giant lizard. Meanwhile, the improvised team of genin fights a trio of shinobi from the Grass on their way to help Gohan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! How's your day going? Hope it's fine.  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and remember:  
> I DO NOT OWN DBZ NOR NARUTO.

Gohan landed on his feet, seemingly without taking any damage from the fall. While the giant lizard entertained the monster, he grabbed Sasuke by the shoulder and took him back to the forest in the blink of an eye. The Uchiha was surprised once again by the half-blood saiyan, this time being because of his speed.

"I'm sorry for taking you here like this, but you have no chance in this battle..." He scratched the back of his head as he was laying on a tree in front of the genin.

"What?" Sasuke said as glanced at his sides. "What do you mean I have no chance?"

"Your energy isn't great enough to beat such an enemy, I'm sorry." Gohan finally said before running back at the battle.

Once he arrived back to the plains in which the battle was held, he aimed a kick at the monster's leg, causing certain imbalance to it, although not as much as the saiyan had expected. He now aimed a punch, but the monster kicked him away, leaving the saiyan several meters into the forest.

The lizard struggled to retain the monster. The One-tail tackled the lizard multiple times, which began to crack one of the two giant kunai the reptile held in its paws. It was forced to change the strategy and jump to a side, which gave free space for the creature to escape, although it didn't seem to be its intentions this time. Its tail was nearly cut as it tried to evade the monster's claws. This alerted the lizard of the disadvantage it was in.

His shirt had been damaged in the impact, and he noticed it when he stood up. He ignored the state of his clothes and ran back to the battle. The monster was able to spot him, but he flew over its arm. The saiyan was now on the creature's shoulder, a position he exploited to land a punch directly on its neck. His fist went through its neck; its skin was similar to sand.

A cry was followed by an incredible amount of chakra, that pushed Gohan out of the shoulder and the lizard further from the battle. This amount of energy was nothing like he'd seen before in this world, and in fact, it was even more similar to his Ki than to the type of energy the people he'd known possessed. His eyes snapped open as he finally put attention to the creature's energy, noticing until now how great it was.

Before he could try and sense his friends' energies, the claws of the monster took him by surprise and struck the half-blood saiyan. The lizard reacted immediately, throwing one of its kunai at the monster's head. The One-tail deflected the giant kunai, but only to find the lizard stabbing its stomach with the second one. Gohan crashed against the floor, although it didn't take long for him to stand up again.

"Ugh, this is way harder than I thought," He said, glancing at the monster as it absorbed the giant kunai into its body, "this thing seems to be almost entirely energy, similar to Broly..." The saiyan glanced behind him to the forest.

The Uchiha ignored the half-blood's instructions, joining the battle either way. He had noticed Gohan's ability to fly, but he didn't care, he still needed to show he was stronger than anyone. With great speed, he almost reached the monster's feet, but he was anticipated and kicked back to the forest. Sasuke crashed against a tree before even entering the forest. He could swear that he heard several thing snap once he hit the tree.

_Damn it, Sasuke._ Gohan thought after witnessing the genin's useless attempt to do anything to defeat the monster. He was just like Vegeta, maybe he should help the genin change before something worse happened, but that would be later.

After checking that the Uchiha was still alive, he stood up straight and released an astounding amount of energy. Even the lizard got distracted from its struggle when the saiyan's white aura exploded. The One-tail pushed the lizard back, leaving it in the floor. It turned to stare at the kid, whose aura caused even the floor to tremble. The creature considered the possibility of losing its life.

Within an instant, Gohan's fist was already some centimeters apart from the creature's right eye. The One-tail's response was to open its mouth, which forced the saiyan to fly back to evade its fangs. He then gasped as the monster pounded him down with its enormous tail, not being able to hold the impact. Afterwards, the half-blood ran out of the crater and flew up once again, this time landing a powerful punch right where the One-tail had been stabbed previously, recovering the lost kunai and throwing it back to the lizard. And with no more than a punch, he thrust the creature back to the lizard, who didn't waste time and jumped to nail the giant kunai on the monster's head.

Unfortunately, the monster's giant tail struck the reptile away, knocking down several trees as it went through the forest. Gohan felt the animal's energy decrease considerably in an instant. It was knocked out. Gohan increased his power slightly more before flying towards the monster at a slightly greater speed than before, landing a kick on its face and then a punch on its forehead.

" **Masenko!** " He yelled, after putting his two hands on his forehead and then extending them in front of his chest. A yellow energy wave was released from his hands, hitting the monster's head directly as the saiyan flew over it.

Gohan landed in front of the One-tail as it places its hands on its head, a cloud of dark smoke covering it. After many screams, the monster finally went silent once the smoke faded, revealing the current state of the head. Its forehead now presented a hole, which made Gaara's body visible. Gohan widened his eyes, thinking for a moment that he was dead. This fear vanished once he was able to feel a weak energy signal inside the unstable and monstrous energy of the One-tail.

"This complicates things..." The half-blood saiyan said as he went back to his fighting stance. _I need to take him out of there, then I can handle with the monster._

* * *

While they advanced through the village, they witnessed fights and deaths all around the place. They were glad that at least they had a path to follow, it being the one left by the monster after breaking through the wall of the arena. Roads and houses were destroyed, many corpses thrown all throughout the path they were following. And, naturally, many of them were terrified of what could have happened to their families or other loved ones. It was true that they knew that their friends and teammates were alive, but the uncertainty about everyone else remained.

The improvised group of genin moved forward through the destroyed village in a V formation, leaving Neji and Chouji in the flanks. The positions were decided by Shikamaru, who analyzed the best characteristics of each one of them. Neji and Chouji were chosen for their places in the flanks because of their better potential to defend of any possible attack they could receive. Meanwhile, Naruto and Nara himself stood at the sides of Ino-who was in the middle of the formation-as they had more potential when they were needed to engage in battle; mainly due to Naruto's abilities shown in his recent match, as well as Shikamaru's and Yamanaka's special techniques.

In their reunion, those who knew Nara from before, as well as Neji, were surprised at his great capacity of planning. They had always known him for being lazy and annoying, but to make him do such plans made them see him in a new light. Said formation now made it easier for them to advance at a great speed through the debris of certain buildings, as they now had less vulnerability from enemy attacks.

They finally reached the walls of the village, a segment that had already been broken through. The group jumped through the hole in the wall, one by one. Neji, who was the last one to jump through, took longer than he should to do as he was required to. Shikamaru reacted almost immediately, not wanting to risk anything. He beckoned the rest to follow him as he noticed what had happened.

Neji blocked the constant attacks of a trio of shinobi from the Grass, his style making it easier to handle them. Despite this, he still struggled to block many of the attacks he received, requiring at times to jump back to get more space. This situation didn't last much longer, as Shikamaru was quick to enter the battle with a barrage of kunai. And behind him, the other three arrived as well.

"Ah, more from the Leaf..." One of them, a mask covering his face up to his nose, said. His forehead protector was green and had the symbol of the Grass carved in it.

"Unfortunate, indeed." Another one, with short hair and glasses, added. He wore the typical vest given to the shinobi with the rank of chunin or higher.

"And just I though we were getting the eyes of a member of the Hyuga clan." A third one said, with long hair that reached the shoulders and covered half of the face. "Will we need to get serious, Toshiro?"

"Probably." He answered as he took his glasses off and put them in a fancy cage with a circular symbol in it. "Let's be sure, at least."

"Come on, Jun," the masked shinobi said, "you don't think this guys will need us to get serious, right?" His moderately long and spiky hair blocked the symbol of his village as he started laughing.

Neji didn't waste any more time and landed a palm in the masked shinobi's chest, leaving him gasping for air. Then, he aimed for the chin, but the shinobi of the glasses threw a kunai that managed to rub his nose. Chouji intervened, his hand transforming into a giant version of itself after making several hand seals. The one of the long hair took a scythe out from the back, reaching the remaining three genin of the Leaf and aiming to cut their heads multiple times.

Naruto, with a kunai in his hands, jumped from Shikamaru's back and managed to cut a portion of the long hair of the enemy, who growled in anger. Jun threw the scythe to the blonde, who dodged it without much trouble. Uzumaki dashed towards his opponent, aiming a punch to the ribs. He failed due to the loose tunic worn by his opponent, which made it difficult for him to identify were the body was. He evaded the scythe once again before being kicked in the face.

"No one touches my hair and lives." Jun said, his purple eyes capturing the blonde genin's attention.

However, Ino kicked the shinobi of the long hair back, avoiding the possibility of the scythe cutting the blonde's limbs or head. The blonde kunoichi charged against the shinobi of the long hair, avoiding the scythe constantly and landing a kick on the ribs of the opponent. Naruto followed her with a punch in the face and a low sweep, which gave the blonde kunoichi the opportunity to punch the opponent down. Once in the ground, the shinobi of the long hair raised the arms in a sign of surrendering, expressionless.

Chouji tried to smash the one of the glasses, but his speed was superior. This led to the chunin of the Grass to hit his opponent several times. Akimichi's physique made it easier to resist the hits, though, carrying on with the same strategy for a while.

Neji, on the other hand, was thrashing the one of the face mask. Palm after palm, his breathing got heavier and movements slower. The prodigy knew this, but he wouldn't stop until his opponent was totally defeated. He would never underestimate an enemy again. The user of the Byakugan finished his barrage of attacks with a palm in the head that nailed the masked shinobi's face nailed in the ground. Once he was in the floor, he was finally able to cough up blood. The Hyuga ran to help his fat ally almost immediately after.

Toshiro widened his eyes as his ribs were hit by the prodigy, who then aimed for the chin, just what his current opponent had prevented some seconds prior. The chunin of the Grass was able to evade the palm, although he wasn't able to avoid Chouji's giant hand, which smashed him. Surprisingly, though, the hand was raised only to find a crushed piece of wood. The chunin had escaped.

Seeing that his two teammates had been defeated, he took a decision. He squatted for a moment, coughing up blood and then wiping it off from his mouth. And just when the genin from the Leaf got closer to him, he disappeared into a cloud of smoke along with his defeated comrades.

"Dang it, they escaped." Naruto said.

"Whatever, let's focus back on the mission." Shikamaru said as he uninterestedly turned back and jumped through the wall.

In a partially destroyed building, the defeated team of shinobi from the Grass was hiding. The chunin observed as the genin from the Leaf jumped through the hole of the wall and left. His teammates were resting in two abandoned and burnt couches they found in the house. He turned back once he figured they were safe, sitting down in the floor in front of them. A burnt and partially destroyed wall hid them from the outside, it was just enough for the three of them to rest for a moment.

"Wow, we were destroyed by those guys," Jun said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "and they didn't even have a chunin in their team."

"Maybe, but they had a Hyuga and two more shinobi than us." Toshiro explained.

"I was pathetic out there," the one of the green forehead protector said as he removed his face mask, revealing a burn scar on his left cheek, "at least you managed to hit them, but I was just thrashed by that guy."

"That guy was a member of the Hyuga clan, a user of the Byakugan," the chunin said as he put his glasses back on, "you can't blame yourself for losing against a guy that defeated even a chunin like me."

"They still swept the floor with our miserable bodies, nothing changes that." Jun stood up from the couch only to lay on the floor. "And we want to assume power in the village like this."

"I mean, you were starting to believe when I became chunin last year, don't be so negative now." Toshiro said before finally standing up. "Let's go, my dear pessimistic friends."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, that was the chapter!
> 
> Anyways, what did you think of the chapter? Feel free to leave your honest opinion in the comments, it helps me improve my writing!
> 
> I hope you have a great day and see you soon with next chapter!


	29. Retreat.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan finally defeats the One-tail as his friends arrive. The Third Hokage dies and Orochimaru manages to retreat after his arms were sealed.

Gohan flew towards the monster, breaking the sound barrier when doing so. He delivered a kick with the enough strength to push the creature sidewards. Unbalanced, the One-tail struggled to respond to the attack, being defenseless when the saiyan punched its face. A scream from Gaara astonished the saiyan, which gave the monster the space and time to defend itself.

Its giant tail struck once again, but this time Gohan was able to stop the tail right before hitting the ground. The short grass underneath him moved violently due to the gust the impact provoked. The saiyan created a small energy ball on each of his hands, burning the creature's tail and forcing it to take it away. He positioned himself in front of the One-tail's abdomen, his hands adopting the exact same position they had some minutes prior.

" **Masenko!** " This time, lighting came out of his hands right before the energy blast emerged from them.

The blast got progressively bigger as it went forward, passing through the creature's stomach in a matter of seconds. Gohan flew to the monster's head to recover Gaara. However, a sand spear came out of the One-tail's neck, blocking his way towards Gaara. It had gone through him. After retreating back to the grassland close to the forest, he managed to get the sand spike from his arm, which turned into regular sand after doing so.

_What? How did this happen?_ He was barely able to move his injured arm, which reminded him of the battle against Cell. _My body is more vulnerable for some reason..._

With his eyes closed, he liberated more of his energy, causing his white aura to increase in size. He voluntarily avoided super saiyan, he didn't think of it as necessary. And he proved himself right when he flew towards the monster and blew its right arm up with an energy ball. The scream of the One-tail caused the tree to tremble, but Gohan didn't seem to be affected by it.

In the blink of an eye, the saiyan had already taken the redhead from the monster's forehead. He landed in the grasslands, close to Sasuke. Then, he glanced back up to check on the One-tail, finding that the monster was now falling apart. Gohan looked back to the redhead, finding that his energy had decreased considerably. And when he turned back to the monster, it had already become a pile of sand.

_So that thing is connected to him..._ The saiyan went back to Sasuke and checked his pulse. He was still breathing.

Gohan also checked for the lizard's energy, but it had disappeared. Maybe it had died, and so he went to check on the forest. A row of destroyed trees and a crater was everything he could find. And before he could theorize on the situation, he noticed several energies approaching him. The saiyan put Gaara next to Sasuke and got in his fighting stance.

"Hey!" He said with a wide smile on his face, lowering his arms.

Naruto was the first one to come out of the forest, waving at Gohan once he was able to recognize him. Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino followed the blonde. And behind them, Neji stared carefully at the saiyan with his byakugan still activated. They were surprised to find Sasuke and Gaara defeated in the floor while he was standing with just a wounded arm.

"Are you okay?" Ino ran to grab the saiyan's arm. "What happened to you?" She covered the deep wound with one of her bandages.

"That guy did it to me," Gohan pointed at the unconscious redhead, "he turned into a really big monster when I tried to take him to the nursery back in the arena, and then that giant lizard helped me and Sasuke fight that thing."

"A giant lizard?" Shikamaru asked while trying to find the giant animal his friend was talking about.

"Oh, like that giant toad!" Naruto said while the saiyan tried to explain himself.

Shikamaru finally shrugged, already knowing that summoning things and animals was possible. What he couldn't ignore, though, was that Sasuke seemed to have been thrashed while Gohan only got a wound in his arm.

"Anyways, we should take Sasuke to the hospital, I'm pretty sure he has several broken bones." Gohan said as he grabbed the Uchiha, causing his everyone's jaw to drop. "Yeah, and this guy too-"

"Run! We have to save Sasuke!" Ino desperately yelled as she pushed Gohan forward, further damaging his purple shirt.

Neji grabbed the redhead and ran behind the group as they left back to the village through the forest. He already knew that something was weird about that Gohan. If he was able to beat the guy that wiped the floor with the boy of the two dojutsus as well as Lee, he had to be pretty strong.

* * *

Half an hour had gone by since the Third Hokage and Orochimaru had gotten themselves in that position. Enma still held the sword that was no more than a couple centimeters away of killing off the old man. The monkey king was skeptical about his old friend being able to seal the enemy's soul entirely. He had to finish this now before he bled to death.

As stubborn as he was, he didn't give up until he felt his arms getting weaker. He figured what his only remaining move was, and prepared to finish the technique. His remaining chakra gathered in his palms as he struggled to keep on breathing. Hiruzen glanced back at Enma, nodding as if he told something to it.

Orochimaru's eyes snapped open as the phantom of a demon with a white tunic appeared from behind his mentor. He recognized the figure immediately, it was the Death God. The man with the snake traits knew the battle was already over, but he never stopped trying to pull his sword further into the Third's body, which Enma always prevented from happening.

The Death God used its sword and cut the chakra from Orochimaru's arms. A drop of sweat came down the sannin's forehead when he became unable to move his arms. And yet, for some reason, he felt relieved deep inside.

"So that's everything you managed to do, huh?" The sannin said as he saw his mentor fall down in front of him. He didn't take much longer to make his next decision. "Now! Retreat!"

Enma went to Hiruzen, who was still holding to his life. It grabbed the old man, noticing the hardly curable wound he now had in the middle of the chest. The monkey king turned to look at the jounin waiting outside the barrier, and then back to the Third.

"Enma, thanks..." The hokage said, struggling to breathe and coughing up blood after every failed attempt at talking. "One last thing," this time, he coughed a lot more blood than before, concerning the monkey king, "when Konohamaru turns 13, give him the contract."

"Right." It said while nodding. And just like that, the Third's flaming heart stopped beating.

As the monkey king disappeared into a cloud of smoke, the barrier finally disappeared. Yuichi was already next to the dead Hokage a second after the barrier dissipated, but Orochimaru had already gone out of sight for them. Behind him, Hayate and Kakashi joined to see their now deceased leader.

Yuichi struggled to believe such a thing, but he felt forced into doing so. He had served the Third Hokage in the years of his rule following the death of his successor, the Fourth. And even after many years of serving him directly, of spending so much time with him, he felt as if his death was a good thing in the long run. He could say many good things about his personality, but he would still not feel any type of grief at the sight of his dead body. Did he hate the man? Was it because of the Uchiha massacre? No, that's impossible, he hates the Uchiha... Right? He doubted he'd ever be able to find the reason of such feelings, but what he knew, is what his plans were for the future of the village. Hopefully, Jiraiya will help him in doing so.

"It seems like they'll retreat." The grandson of the Second said, glancing back at his colleagues. "Inform about the Hokage's death."

"Right." Kakashi and Hayate responded before leaving the roof.

* * *

The sannin ran through the roofs of the houses and buildings of what once was his home. His minions surrounded him, every single one of them being ready to defend their leader. He never expected for the battle to go as it did, he had planned it for years and yet he didn't manage to go out of it without any damage. That damned Sarutobi was always annoying, and this battle wouldn't break that tradition, of course. Every step forward he took and did not feel his arms, his frustration and anger grew.

Orochimaru forced himself to calm down, though, as someone unexpected got in their way. A purple haired woman, her suggestive outfit being totally ignored by the one that was once her mentor, her father figure. He noticed her hands trembling, which caused nothing more than his smile to widen. Anko couldn't ignore that smile, forcing herself to calm down even when she wasn't able to.

"Surrender, now," she extended her arms, letting a couple of snakes out of her sleeves, "I won't hesitate to kill you all."

"Oh, Anko, it's been a while." The sannin's typical smile was difficult to hide.

"Shut up and surrender." Anko said, pointed her arms at her former mentor.

"Don't talk like that to Lord Orochimaru!" Tayuya jumped in front of her, taking her kunai out and pointing it to the woman's neck. "If you try anything, we'll kill you."

"Calm down, she's an old acquaintance." He beckoned the pink-haired girl to back off. "Now, Anko, will you let us go now? I don't think it would be convenient for the Leaf to lose you."

"I don't care!" She angrily yelled. And only a second after realizing what she said, she covered her mouth in shame. "Because I will-"

"You can join us if you want to, you're always welcome to the Village Hidden in the Sound." Orochimaru smiled, this time in a less creepy way than usual. "You were the first one, after all, I owe you many discoveries."

The Sound Four turned to their leader in shock, but it suddenly vanished as the sannin beckoned them to surround the woman. Anko was surprised to see this, her doubt disappearing due to the sensation of being in danger. She gathered her chakra in her hands as she put them together, which was noticed by the man with the snake traits. She jumped back, but was stopped by the orange-haired shinobi, forcing her to throw several snakes from her sleeves at him.

Orochimaru's minions didn't take long to react, organizing themselves and attacking the enemy kunoichi in unison. Kidomaru jumped back as he took his bow out, aiming an arrow at her head. Tayuya, on the other hand, charged against the purple-haired kunoichi, her kunai in hand. And before the remaining two members of the Sound Four could respond, Kabuto appeared and blocked their way.

Anko took a step back as she figured who had just saved her. She only needed his identity to guess what his intentions were, and they surely weren't that good. She thought of the idea of calling for help and trying to resist, but she finally decided to leave the place.

"Lord Orochimaru did not order you to attack her," Kabuto angrily pointed out as he took his glasses off, "don't you ever do something without his explicit orders."

"Oh, thanks, Kabuto, but I did order them to surround her." Orochimaru calmly said before running quickly towards the purple-haired kunoichi and getting on her way. "And you, where are you going? This isn't over yet."

"What do you mean?" Anko answered with a firm tone, one the sannin could look through. "You can't use your arms, right? You have no chance."

"That's not the point, dear," he shook his head, "you have to choose between two options: you join us or you die right here." His confidence drew a smile on his face, a really big one.

Anko's eyes became white as something hit her neck. Behind her, Kabuto had taken the chance to end it once and for all, figuring that they couldn't waste any more time in the matter. His master nodded in response of his question. He grabbed the woman and followed the group once it continued the retreat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter! What did you think? I'm not that sure about that last part of the chapter, so let me know what your opinion on it is! 
> 
> Anyways, see you soon with the next chapter!


	30. Aftermath.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the forces of the Sound and Sand villages retreat, the funeral for the fallen is held.

Kakashi had already left the roof of the arena when a cloud of smoke appeared in front of Hayate, which took the jounin by surprise. Yuichi glanced back at his colleague, noticing a long tail come out of the smoke. The giant lizard went out of it, lacking one of its giant kunai while the other one had a crack on it. It didn't seem to be really happy about something and Hayate noticed right away.

"Why did you send some kids to fight against a tailed beast?" Its yellow eyes noticed the presence of the trees left in the roof. "That's so irresponsible and stupid."

Hayate's eyebrow raised as he crossed his arms. "A tailed beast?" He tried to remember what the monster looked like, and even when he remembered its appearance, he was unable to identify it as such. "Was that really a tailed beast?"

Yuichi had already turned towards the seemingly sick man, his arms crossing as well. He never ceased to be surprised at the sight of such giant animals with clothes on, even at his thirty six years of living.

"It indeed was," the lizard responded with a harsh tone towards him, "the One-tail, to be specific."

"So who went there?" Yuichi asked immediately after the lizard finished the explanation. He assumed those kids the lizard was talking about were dead, so he was curious about who they were.

The lizard turned to the silver-haired jounin, recognizing the red tattoos that were painted on his face. "A descendant of the Second Hokage..." It noticed that he wasn't really all that happy about being recognized as such, so it went on to answer his question. "I don't know their names, but they were an Uchiha and a boy with really developed muscles. Surprising for the age he appears to have."

"They didn't die, right?" Hayate nervously asked as Yuichi stared furiously at him.

"No," the lizard said, relieving the seemingly sick man, "that boy of the muscles managed to handle it when not even I could do so, although I cannot say the same for the Uchiha."

Before it could add anything else, the silver-haired jounin interrupted as he put his hand on his chin. "Are you telling me that Son Gohan handled the One-tail by himself?" The lizard nodded in response, which left both shinobi speechless for a moment. "As far as we're concerned, that kid is not older than twelve years old... Was the old man right when he said he was a greater prodigy than...?"

"Come on, Totsuno, it's impossible that a kid of no more than twelve years of age can defeat a tailed beast." Hayate believed it to be a joke and tried to get his lizard friend to confess it. However, the only response he got was a negative one. It wasn't a joke.

"The old man was right," Yuichi couldn't believe that came out of his mouth, "it is crucial that Son Gohan stays in the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"Why? To turn him into a killing machine like the Fourth Hokage?" The lizard never liked the ways of the shinobi, but it usually reserved its comments. Liking Hayate didn't necessarily mean that it liked the other shinobi.

A vein emerged from the silver-haired jounin's forehead as he heard such a comment. "I value humanity, unlike many other shinobi." He said with a surprisingly calm voice, which suddenly turned into a deeper and more menacing tone. "And don't you ever dare refer to my friend as a killing machine." The grandson of the Second Hokage left the roof, leaving only the giant lizard and the seemingly sick man.

"Idiot." Was everything Hayate could add to the conversation. "You just don't talk about such things in front of him, it's quite an important issue for him."

* * *

When the group arrived at the hospital to get some medical attention for Sasuke and Gaara, they found that their other friends were already there, sitting in the waiting room. And once they noticed the others had arrived, they ran towards them to see if they were okay. It was then when the group that came from the outskirts of the village noticed that some of their friends weren't in the same room.

Gohan supposed they were receiving the medical attention they needed after their respective Chunin Exams matches. And for such reason, his concern was directed towards finding someone that healed the two injured shinobi they brought to the hospital, ignoring his own wound. They managed to find a medical shinobi that wanted to heal the pair, but once she approached them, a pair of shinobi from the sand took the redhead from Neji's arms. The Hyuga tried to stop the one of the full body black suit, but failed to land his palm on his back due to a smoke bomb the girl threw at the last moment.

Everyone in the hospital panicked, and there was quite a lot of people in the waiting room. Many nurses swiftly went to the room to try and calm them down. The smoke covering the entire room and the screams made it quite difficult, but they eventually managed to get rid of the smoke with wind style ninjutsu. Gohan also helped with a gust of wind created by him, focusing his Ki on his hand and then emulating a punch. It was a really simple technique for him.

Meanwhile, Neji wanted to follow the pair of sand shinobi, but was interrupted by a hand that was placed on his shoulder before he could so. He turned to find his brown-haired teammate, who seemed to be relieved of his well-being. The Hyuga genius abandoned the idea of leaving for the Sand shinobi once he saw her smile.

"So, how is Lee doing?" Neji asked, surprising his teammate.

"Well, he's being taken care of right now, but they said he'd be fine. Fortunately, that other guy saved him from worse injuries." Tenten couldn't hide her surprise while answering his question. She wasn't to blame, though, as seeing Neji care about someone was quite a shock.

"Did I say something weird?" The Hyuga prodigy asked.

His teammate wasn't able to respond as they were distracted by the discussion between Gohan and his blonde teammate. Sasuke had already been taken by a nurse, but for some reason he didn't want to have his wound treated, which seemed to really bother Ino. The thought it was weird for him not to want to be treated, but they didn't really give it much thought as the saiyan ended up accepting treatment.

After that, a brown-haired girl stood up to take his friend home, as he was in a wheelchair due to his injuries. Neji knew him quite well, and in fact even grew up along with him. In his eyes, Nobuyuki had always been a weak and weird kid, someone that didn't deserve to be a member of his clan. This vision started to change once he revealed the ability to use both the Byakugan and the Sharingan.

"See that guy in the wheelchair?" Neji pointed at Nobuyuki as his teammate pushed him out of the hospital. Tenten nodded, wondering why he would even be mentioning him. "Well, we always hated him, and if I'm honest, I think I'm the only one that respects him a little."

"Why?" Tenten asked while still not knowing the reason to mention that.

"Oh, sorry, I just felt like telling you this." He scratched the back of his head while his teammate laughed. He also noticed something, though, he suddenly felt freer.

* * *

Yakumo couldn't help but to feel uncomfortable with all the members of the Hyuga clan looking at them with disdain. They even reached a point in which she tried her best not to make eye contact with any of them. Nobuyuki had lowered his head a while ago, right when they entered the Hyuga clan's section of the village. The brown-haired girl was quite sure that he was already used to it.

After some more minutes of walking, the half-blood Hyuga pointed towards his house. They had finally arrived. She pushed him towards the white door of his house. It was a small house, with no real luxurious detail, quite a humble one compared to the rest. He raised one of his eyebrow as he noticed that the entrance of his house didn't have the lock. Nobuyuki was startled by this detail, but he managed to slow down his breathing before opening the door.

"Hey, dad!" He exclaimed with a seemingly happy tone, although something felt off about it. "Dad?"

"Maybe he isn't home?" Yakumo asked as he noticed the concerned expression of her teammate.

"The door wasn't locked." Nobuyuki replied, desperately rolling the wheels of his chair to get to his father's room.

"Maybe he was in a hurry?" She tried to convince him that his father was fine, but even herself knew that something had probably gone wrong, specially after an invasion.

The brown-haired girl heard something hitting the floor. She dashed to the room her teammate had gone, hearing his teammate's cracking voice calling for his father. What she found there caused her to gasp in horror as she covered her mouth with her hand.

It was a small room, which would be expected from the size of the house itself. It didn't have much furniture, just the essentials, like a bed and a nightstand next to it. The light of day entered the room through a window in the wall behind the bed. However, the color of the bed was ignored by the girl, and it was natural to do so. The corpse of a brown-haired, middle aged man was laying in there, with his clothes stained by his own blood. The red liquid seemed to be coming mainly from the cut in his throat, but it was really hard to tell as he also had wounds all around his visible body parts.

Whoever had done it, had something against him, Yakumo had no doubt about it. The way that man seemed to have died was horrible, definitely a way she wouldn't like herself or any of her friends to die in. She was snapped out of her own thoughts, however, as her friend started to cry. Nobuyuki had always seemed as someone with strong character to her, someone that would go out of his way to protect others. For such reason it was weird for her to see him like that, vulnerable, crying at the side of the corpse of his dead father.

She kneeled next to him, remaining silent while covering his body with her arms. The brown-haired girl pat her friend in the back, moving his head to her shoulder. Nobuyuki started crying harder once he felt the warmth of her shoulder. If she had to be honest, this was the first time she'd have to comfort someone. Fortunately, it seems that her brother's technique is really efficient; she was somewhat worried that it would only work with her, like when she was little and her brother did it, but it did work in the end.

Nobuyuki had a vague memory come to mind while he cried on his friend's shoulder. A tall woman with black hair suddenly appeared in his mind, said image vanishing right after appearing. For a moment, he stopped crying, confused by his memory, but he didn't take much longer to remember what had just happened.

"Thanks." He said with a weak tone, still dropping some tears on her purple shirt.

"Don't worry, I'm here for you!" She answered as she tightened her hug. "I'm your friend, after all, and that's what friends do."

* * *

As would be expected of the afternoon subsequent to an unexpected invasion, a dark sky and rain accompanied the tears and sobs of the people that had gathered in the main square of the village. In front of the crowd, several pictures of some of the shinobi lost in battle were put on an improvised memorial. And in the middle of it, a picture of the recently deceased Third Hokage was held in a table, so it was in a higher position than the other ones. Two torches were placed at opposite sides of it, but they had been put out for a while now.

Between the crowd and the pictures of the deceased, which were limited to the most important ones, the elders of the council were standing with their heads lowered. They shared the same black kimono uniform as the rest of the people present, the only thing varying between men and women being the skirt of said kimono. Even after it started raining, they had decided to keep going with the funeral, arguing that mere raining could not prevent them from showing respect to those who deserved it.

Nobuyuki had already cried a lot the day prior, but not even that prevented him from doing it again in the ceremony. And close to him, Sakura was also crying as she had also lost her father. Next to her, Naruto was trying to calm her down, imitating what Iruka did all those times he was left alone by everyone as a kid. He even hugged her for a while, but she moved away once she managed to regain her composure. Her mother, a blonde woman, then hugged her from behind while telling her that everything would be okay.

Konohamaru continuously attempted to wipe his tears, but it proved to be a tough task as they didn't stop streaming down his face. Asuma had put his hand on the shoulder of his nephew, but he himself wasn't much happier. Gohan was standing next to the kid, and saw in him that scared 5 year-old child that lost his father. He gave the kid a side hug, to which the young Sarutobi answered by hugging the saiyan with both of his arms. He didn't expect such a reaction from the kid.

"I know I am still really young, but I also know how it feels to lose someone close to you." Gohan said with a calm tone, just like the one his mother used to calm him down when he was little. "I won't lie to you, life can be harsh, really harsh. But you don't have to worry, as you will always have someone that loves you and takes care of you."

"Really?" Konohamaru asked as he wiped his tears with his long blue scarf. As he glanced up, he noticed that he wasn't really all that smaller than Gohan, at least not as much as he expected.

"Yep, look at your friends over there," the half-blood saiyan pointed at his two best friends, Moegi and Udon, who were also saddened by the situation, "look at your uncle right here," he then pointed at Asuma, who smiled at the kid while trying to hide his own sadness, "and you also have Naruto and me!"

"I see..." The kid finally stopped crying as he adjusted his goggles. "Then, one day I'll be strong enough to take care of all of you!" His eyes were filled determination as he stopped hugging the saiyan. "Even stronger than grandpa!"

Gohan remembered how similar to Naruto he used to be, but something was now different. There was no ' _I'll become Hokage!_ ' this time. He smiled kindly at Konohamaru, giving him a thumbs up similar to those his father used to give him while training.

"I'm sure you will!" Gohan said.

And before Konohamaru could reply, the elders called everyone to leave the flowers they'd been asked to take for the memorial. Asuma took two bouquets of flowers and gave one to the kid.

Everyone present in the place started to leave their respective flowers to the improvised monument, one by one. And after almost everyone had left their gift, the memorial was filled with a small mountain of flowers of different colors, shapes and sizes. That day, the Yamanaka flower shop had given the flowers for free, it was a special day, after all.

The elders announced that the funeral was over. Everyone, while still sad about their losses, went back home. Life would continue normally the next day, and they needed to rest to be ready for going back to the routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so the Konoha Crush is officially over! What did you think about the whole thing?
> 
> And for everyone wondering, yep, the Tsunade arc won't follow Naruto here.
> 
> With that said, see you soon with the next chapter! Have a nice day!


	31. Chunin.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan is called to the Hokage's office, where he talks with Yuichi. Then, the meeting to decide the next Hokage is held.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 31, I hope you like it, and remember:  
> I DO NOT OWN DBZ NOR NARUTO.

"Excuse me, sir, why was I called here?" Gohan asked. It felt weird for him to be called to the office of the Hokage.

In the Third's former chair, a jounin was looking into a piece of paper, probably an important document. The towers of paper that used to fill the desk all those past times Gohan visited the office were gone. Yuichi seemed to have gone through a boring and tiring day, or at least that's what the saiyan assumed from seeing his eye bags. And when he took a sip from his cup of tea, he finally noticed the presence of the kid.

"Oh, sorry, I was busy doing some paperwork." The silver-haired man said as he put the paper away.

"So, are you the next Hokage, sir?" Gohan asked as he sat down on the chair in front of the desk, having been invited to do so.

"No, no, I am just covering the obligations of the Third while the council decides on a new one." Yuichi shivered at the mere thought of him doing all that paperwork every day for the rest of his life. "I'm not made for the job anyways."

"I see..." He cleared his throat before continuing, he expected the man to tell him then what he'd been called there for. "And why did you call me here, sir?" He asked with a soft voice, not wanting to give a negative impression.

"Right! I had forgotten." He pushed his blue haori away from the desk, causing it to fall down to the floor. From behind the desk, he took a green vest out, similar to the one he usually wore along his haori. "We've been told that you were able to defeat the One-tail by yourself, so we decided that you deserved this." Yuichi had already offered it to Gohan, but something suddenly came to mind that caused him to retrieve it back to his side. "I do have something to ask you. Knowing so little about you causes me to doubt, so I apologize." His face turned to a more serious expression. "Will you stay in the village and swear loyalty to it?"

The saiyan took his time to answer, specially because he was startled by the seriousness in the man's eyes. "I don't really have anywhere else to go, sir. This place is totally unknown to me." Before the jounin was able to reply, the kid continued. "But there is a problem."

"What is it?" Yuichi was relieved and satisfied for a moment, thinking that he had succeeded on keeping the kid within the borders of the Leaf, but those emotions disappeared quickly after hearing that last sentence.

"I don't think I relate with what being a shinobi means or what it requires." Gohan wasn't able to look at the silver-haired jounin in the eyes, he felt like he had just told him something disrespectful. His surprise was great when he heard a calm voice come from him.

"So you know what being a shinobi means? Well, we were informed that you visited the library regularly, so it wouldn't surprise me." He said as he put his haori on his lap. "What would surprise me, though, is that you got the true meaning of being a shinobi written in a mere book or scroll."

"I only read about jutsu and about some parts of the history of the village." The saiyan explained. "I think I got the meaning from what I've experienced alongside my teammates. The Chunin Exams, kids of my age or even slightly older fighting to death, and for what? For honor? For-"

"For their home." Yuichi answered the question. "Many shinobi don't fight just for fun or to kill, many fight for their families and loved ones in general, even to make a better world." He remembered when he graduated from the academy. "Back when I was younger, you were forced to become a shinobi, but now things have changed. And while young ones like you can feel pressured to choose that path, it isn't mandatory to do so anymore."

"So that's why there is people with other professions... I see, but still, when they choose to become a shinobi they're risking their lives." He hesitated for a moment, but decided to continue with his idea. "Don't you think that 11 years old is a bit too young to put your life at risk?"

"My opinion doesn't matter," Yuichi's words were unexpected by the young saiyan, "they decide for themselves, so I don't have the authority to make that decision." The kid seemed to be quite disappointed with that answer, and the jounin noticed it. "However, that doesn't change the fact that you can protect them."

_It seems that's the only way..._ Gohan raised his voice once again, trying to find any other ways to find an alternative. "But does the academy educate for something outside of being a shinobi? Maybe that's the issue."

"Well, you could say that's the focus, but in the first years of education, general subjects are taught. And in a world so conflictive, it is hard not to focus education towards it, the system itself is built on that." He noticed that Gohan was putting attention, but he still preferred not to give him the explanation of how their society worked and why, he was still too young to understand. At least, that's what he thought. "It's complicated, but I think you understand what I meant."

"And can't the Hokage do something about it?" The saiyan finally asked.

"Within this borders, yes." He answered calmly. "And if the next Hokage is who I think will be, you can be surprised by her ideas." Yuichi explained. "When younger, she wanted to change some things, just like you do now. And even if that doesn't happen, maybe you can become the Sixth Hokage and change it yourself."

"Alright then," he seemed to have taken a decision, which provoked a smile from the jounin, "for now, I'll continue being a shinobi, because I have to make sure that my friends are okay." He remained silent for a couple of seconds, then raised his head to give the man a kind grin. "Thanks for your time, sir, and sorry for bothering."

"Don't worry, it was fun to talk to you." He gave the vest to Gohan, who put it in right after taking it. "Looks good on you."

"Thank you, sir." He smiled once again, and waved at the man before leaving the office.

As the door closed, he took back the paper he'd put away right before starting the conversation with the kid. It seemed to be a record, as it had the name of some ninja along with information about them. 'Jiraiya', 'Orochimaru' and 'Tsunade Senju' figured next to the name of the now deceased 'Hiruzen Sarutobi'.

_So there's nothing on where she is..._ He thought as he read the title of the document, 'Team Hiruzen'.

Once again, the door of the office opened, this time gaining the silver-haired man's attention. From it, a tall man with long, white hair entered. He waved at Yuichi while having a wide smile on his face.

"Ready for the meeting?"

* * *

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw Gohan arrive at the place. "You're a chunin now? That's amazing!"

The blonde genin and Konohamaru were waiting outside of Ichiraku for their friend to arrive. The small ramen restaurant was almost empty, as usual. Both of the saiyan's friends' faces were filled with a smile once they saw him wearing the green vest.

"It isn't that comfortable, but I don't really mind." He preferred wearing a cape like Piccolo's, but he figured that he'd never have the chance to do it again.

"So, Gohan's closer than ourselves..." Konohamaru said. "Seems like we have to train harder, right?" He turned to the blonde genin, who nodded with great determination.

"Yeah! One day I'll beat both of you, believe it!" He pointed at the saiyan first, and then at his childhood friend.

"I'd like to see that." Gohan replied as he entered Ichiraku, inviting his two friends to do the same.

It was probably the second or third time he went there, so he wasn't really unfamiliar with the restaurant. They sat down in the counter, the only place to sit in except for two tables outside the small local. Teuchi was there to receive them, as happy as he always was to see them, although this time he seemed to be slightly happier; probably because of the saiyan's vest. From behind the middle aged man, a younger girl came out, probably coming out of the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Ayame!" Naruto greeted enthusiastically.

Gohan and Konohamaru also waved at the girl with a similar amount of enthusiasm. And of course, Teuchi's daughter waved back at them, walking to her father's side while she did.

"What will you want this time?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"I'll have the same as always!" The blonde genin answered.

"I'll have the same as Naruto!" Konohamaru replied with great determination.

"Hmm, I think I will have five bowls of what they ordered." Gohan said as he scratched his chin.

"Alright! Seven bowls of ramen coming!" She said energetically while grabbing her father's arm, taking him to the kitchen to help her.

Gohan couldn't help but smile at the girl's passion for her profession, it made him happy to see that people could be passionate there with something different than being a shinobi. The brown-haired girl seemed really young, which caused the saiyan to suppose that she was never a shinobi.

"And what will you do now that the exams are over?" Naruto asked the saiyan, causing the Third's grandson to also turn to look at him.

"Well, I'm not sure, maybe I'll go on missions with my team, like before..." He got into his thoughts for a moment before continuing the conversation. "Do you think we'll get missions to repair the village? I'm sure you've noticed that the invasion left many damages on buildings. Fortunately not Ichiraku, though."

"Yeah, that's good. And I don't know about the missions, that would be somewhat boring!" Naruto replied, only getting a disappointed look from the saiyan.

"I don't think that's boring, I actually think that would be fun!" Gohan responded. "I love helping people, and it's been a while since I helped anyone..."

"Here's the food!" Konohamaru cheered as both the middle-aged man and the young girl came out of the kitchen with the seven bowls of ramen they'd ordered. They were served on their place, and as soon as they were given the sticks, they started eating as fast as they could.

After finishing his bowl, Naruto stole one from Gohan, which started a stick fight. Konohamaru saw the chance and took it, stealing one bowl from the saiyan and eating it calmly while he fought against the blonde genin. Teuchi and Ayame laughed as both kids used the sticks as swords.

* * *

In the same floor as the Hokage's office, another important room stood. The council of the village held there meetings there, regularly they'd discuss important issues with the Hokage, but this time it would be different as the Third died during Orochimaru's invasion. Along with the elders, two other important shinobi for the Leaf were in the room. Jiraiya and Yuichi sat down in front of the elders, who remained in their special seats.

"Seeing that both of you reject the position... Which are your proposals for the next Hokage?" The elderly woman asked. "We have also considered Danzo Shimura as the ideal successor to Lord Third."

"I propose Tsunade Senju." The man of the long, white hair said with a relaxed tone.

"I also propose Tsunade Senju." The silver-haired jounin said as he crossed his arms. _Danzo? Really?_

"And do you know what her current position is? Such information is unknown to us, and I believe it also is for you." The old man glanced at Jiraiya, who stood up.

"Nope, but I'll find her." He stretched his arms as he spoke.

"The replacement is urgent! The village cannot persist without a proper leader!" The old woman protested. However, she was stopped by the other member of the council.

"I'm sure Yuichi can take care of that while we're out searching for Tsunade." He glanced at the jounin, whose face showed deep suffering. "Right?"

The silver-haired man nodded, keeping his glance down. "For how long will it be?"

"Jiraiya will be given a month to find Tsunade, if he isn't able to do so by the end of that time, Danzo will be chosen as the Fifth Hokage." As the old man spoke, Yuichi fall down to the floor, already feeling tired with only imagining the paperwork. "Understood?"

Jiraiya calmly nodded. "Oh, and before I leave, I want to take the kid with me."

"Go ahead." Both elders said in unison. "Just make sure he comes back."

"Alright." He waved them off before exiting the room. "Good luck, Yuichi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was it for now, I hope you liked it!
> 
> So I spent a lot of time on the conversation between Yuichi and Gohan, as I think it's kind of important for his development, so I hope it was cool! And of course there's also the meeting, which is still pretty similar to canon.
> 
> Anyways, I think next chapter will come next week, just so you know. See you soon!


End file.
